A lot of people wanting Vice President Sara Duterte to stand trial following her impeachment last Feb. 5 are losing patience with Senate President Chiz Escudero who has refused to convene the impeachment court just yet.
Some even ascribe some motive to Escudero’s actions, saying he is slowing down the impeachment proceedings on purpose to allow Duterte to escape trial and be eligible to run for president in 2028, alleging bias on the part of the Senate president who will be the impeachment court’s presiding officer.
Escudero was on the side of Rodrigo Duterte when he was president. Currently, he is also an ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and, supposedly, a good friend of first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, who once said “bad shot na sa akin ‘yan,” referring to the vice president.
His father, the late representative Salvador Escudero III, was food and agriculture minister of Ferdinand Marcos Sr. and did not hide being a Marcos loyalist even when he was a congressman during the post-Marcos years.
Where does the young Escudero stand on the vice president’s impeachment? He will be up for reelection in 2028. Is he afraid to lose the vote of the Duterte supporters and sympathizers should he move quickly to start the trial during the congressional break? Is he putting on the line his close relationship with the president and the first lady for being perceived as pro-Duterte?
Can the Dutertes’ allies be objective?
Under the Senate rules of procedure on impeachment trials, senators are sworn to “observe political neutrality” during the course of the trial. It defines political neutrality as the “exercise of a public official’s duty without unfair discrimination and regardless of party affiliation or preference.”
Does this mean that the senators, especially those seeking reelection in the May midterms, can openly state their stand for or against the vice president’s impeachment for as long as they won’t show their biases once the impeachment court is convened?
Then, the House prosecutors should present convincing evidence against the vice president to make it embarrassing to vote for her acquittal.
Reelectionist Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa has vowed to be “apolitical” and to “maintain political neutrality” once he wears his robe as a senator-judge.
“I am not denying that I’m close to the vice president. I’m not denying that I’m identified with the Dutertes. But then again, my decision will be made once I have studied the articles of impeachment and the course of the trial … how the prosecution will present their case,” said De la Rosa, whose closeness to the Dutertes dates back to his days of police service in Davao City.
Can rabid Duterte defenders such as De la Rosa and another reelectionist senator, Bong Go, convincingly shed their partisanship and be impartial in deciding to either acquit or convict the vice president? Can they be objective in raising questions or manifestations? Can they be asked to recuse once they show bias or partisanship? How are the senator-judges expected to maintain political neutrality?
Is the House ready to prosecute?
While legal luminaries are in disagreement over a number of issues related to the impeachment proceedings, we do not know how prepared the House prosecutors are to present their case and ensure conviction. Conviction means Sara will have to step down as vice president and, if the impeachment court renders it, be disqualified perpetually to run for any public office.
The last I heard, the House prosecutors and their support staff were in the thick of preparations for the trial even as the Senate has yet to convene itself into an impeachment court. However, they have not assigned who the lead prosecutor will be. I understand that the 11 House prosecutors do not have specific assignments yet on which article to handle.
Considering that each article of impeachment will be voted upon separately and a two-thirds vote of the senator-judges in just one article will be enough to remove the vice president, are the prosecutors pushing through with all of the seven articles or concentrate on just one or two articles with the highest probability of conviction to speed up the process?
Individuals and groups have been pressuring the Senate to start the trial. However, the legal and procedural question remains: Can the impeachment court convene even while the Senate is in recess? Hopefully, these brouhaha over the first impeachment of a vice president won’t be all for naught.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
This column also appeared in The Manila Times.
