Senate urged to hold impeachment trial of VP Sara during Congress break

By Kenneth Christiane L. Basilio, Reporter

THE PHILIPPINE Senate should start preparing for the impeachment trial of Vice-President (VP) Sara Duterte-Carpio while on a congressional break, as mandated by the 1987 Constitution, political analysts said at the weekend.

“Senate President Francis G. Escudero should direct the Senate to start doing the necessary logistical and administrative preparations to convene as an impeachment court,” Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a constitutionalist and senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, said in a Facebook Messenger chat.

“The Senate shouldn’t be bound by their calendar. Once the preparatory works are done, they should start the trial proceedings, even if this happens before June,” he added.

Mr. Escudero last week said they are barred by law to convene as an impeachment court to try Ms. Duterte for alleged corruption and other charges while Congress is on recess. He said they could not start the trial until June, when lawmakers come back from a four-month break for midterm elections.

Filipinos will pick a new set of congressmen and 12 of the 24-member Senate along with other local officials on May 12.

The Senate’s failure to fast-track Ms. Duterte’s impeachment trial violates its mandate, said Ephraim B. Cortez, president at the National Union of Peoples’ lawyers.

“Their mandate is to ‘proceed forthwith’ once the articles of impeachment are transmitted to them,” he said in a Facebook Messenger chat. “They should immediately convene as an impeachment court and start the process of impeachment. They should not wait until after the election.”

More than 200 congressmen last week filed and signed an impeachment complaint against Ms. Duterte, more than the one-third required by the Constitution for her to be impeached, paving the way for her trial by the Senate.

The House of Representatives sent the bill of the impeachment complaint to the Senate on the last day of the congressional session.

Twenty-five more congressmen later endorsed the complaint against, according to House Secretary-General Reginald S. Velasco.

The ouster charges consisted of seven articles of impeachment, including allegations of plotting the assassination of the President, misusing secret funds, amassing unexplained wealth and committing acts of destabilization

Ms. Duterte on Friday denied having threatened to have the President assassinated. In a news briefing, she said her lawyers are busy preparing for her defense.

Ms. Duterte is one of the few Philippine officials who were impeached, among them ex-President Joseph E. Estrada in 2000, Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in March 2011, Chief Justice Renato Corona in December 2011 and election chief Juan Andres D. Bautista in October 2017.

Mr. Corona was convicted by the Senate, while Ms. Gutierrez resigned before she could be tried. Mr. Estrada’s trial was aborted after some House prosecutors walked out after senators voted against opening a document containing evidence. He was later ousted by a street uprising.

“The Senate impeachment court has to be set up immediately as it would be very difficult for it to finish the trial if it starts hearings after June 2,” Neri J. Colmenares, a former congressman and a party-list nominee in the midterm elections, said in a statement.

Lawmakers will reconvene for a two-week session from June 2 to June 13, according to the congressional calendar.

“We demand President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. to faithfully implement the Constitution… by calling for a special session before the end of February so the impeachment court can start by March,” he added.

Mr. Cortez said the President could not compel the Senate to meet as an impeachment court as “it will violate the principle of separation of powers.” Senators could still hold Ms. Duterte’s trial even if the 19th Congress ends, he added.

“They will not convene as a legislative body, but a tribunal tasked with implementing the constitutional provisions on accountability of public officers as regards impeachable officials.”

The House decision to impeach Ms. Duterte on the last day of congressional session before the election campaign season is a “bold move” designed to corner her and her allies, Anthony Lawrence A. Borja, an associate political science professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said via Messenger chat.

“This is meant to push Ms. Duterte to a tight corner during the duration of the 2025 elections by dangling the threat of impeachment in the Senate on her head,” he said.

The Duterte camp would likely use Ms. Duterte’s impeachment as a rallying campaign call for their supporters, said Arjan P. Aguirre, who teaches political science at the Ateneo de Manila University. “The messaging could be ‘elect us to save VP Sara,’” he said via Messenger.

Ms. Duterte’s impeachment would demarcate the “tribal lines” between hard-line Duterte supporters and those still on the fence about her, Mr. Borja said.