Sara Duterte impeachment trial: Defensor OK with Senate timeline
Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor sees no problem with Senate President Francis Escudero’s outright denial of a motion seeking to compel Vice President Sara Duterte to answer the impeachment complaint.
Defensor said they will heed the senator-judges’ discretion regarding the impeachment trial of VP Duterte.
In a virtual press briefing on Wednesday, Defensor was asked about Escudero’s statements last March 26. That day, the lead prosecutor, House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, filed a motion to issue a summons to Duterte.
But Escudero said it could not be done with Congress on a break.
READ: Escudero won’t summon Duterte on impeach raps: It can’t legally be done
“While we respect the decision of the lead prosecutor, I will await the collective decision of the team on our next move,” Defensor told reporters.
“But I personally want to make it clear that if the presiding judge or the Senate President has rejected and has insisted on the timeline that he has already proposed, I’m okay with following Senator Chiz Escudero’s directive regarding that timeline.”
‘Doing our job’
“We’ll just do our job to prepare, and we will see. We will make a collective decision on that. But for me, I will follow what the judge has to say. It’s hard to fight against them,” Defensor added in a mix of Filipino and English.
Defensor also said that they were still preparing for the impeachment proceedings against Duterte, noting as a lawyer, that their task was to gather as much evidence as they could to have a strong case for the trial.
The lawmaker also said it was a good thing that a lawyer like Escudero would be the presiding judge during the trial.
“Just for the record, I’m very happy and I’m glad that the Senate president, who will be the presiding judge in the impeachment trial, is a lawyer,” he said.
“And I’m very sure that the Senate President Chiz Escudero would be able to clearly distinguish between a political exercise such as an impeachment proceeding compared to a judicial proceeding where the strict rules of evidence apply.”
“It’s good that our judge is a lawyer. He will be able to better appreciate the evidence — and not only through technicalities that will be raised. Remember, since an impeachment process is not a criminal proceeding, our rules of evidence and the quantum of evidence required for a conviction are not that strict,” he added.
80 percent ready
Earlier, Defensor said the prosecution panel was 80 percent ready to start the trial.
He also said that he and other members of the team have staged mock trials to simulate what an impeachment proceeding feels like. That is to prepare responses in case members of the defense team question their evidence and witnesses.
Last February 5, the House impeached Duterte after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint. The case was hinged on several issues, among them the alleged misuse of confidential funds in her offices, threats to ranking officials including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and conduct unbecoming of a vice president.
The Articles of Impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate. The Constitution requires a trial to start “forthwith” if at least one-third of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
Under the Constitution, the Senate will act as an impeachment court, with senators sitting as judges.
READ: House impeaches Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
However, the trial has yet to start as the Articles of Impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before the session ended on February 5. That means that Congress would have to reconvene first after the election season, or through a special session to discuss the matter.
Starting immediately
Defensor previously said that they hope dDuterte’s impeachment trial would start immediately as the Constitution states. But he also said that they would respect the Senate’s decision regarding the timeline of the proceedings.
READ: Lawmakers hope VP Sara Duterte impeachment trial will start soon
Libanan explained, however, that he and the other prosecutors signed their motion to issue summons against Duterte as early as March 14. But they refrained from submitting it to the Senate because Congress was in recess.
They eventually submitted this motion after the Senate committee on foreign relations conducted a hearing to discuss the arrest of the vice president’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte. That, Libanan said, gave them the impression that the Senate was working despite the Congressional break.
