Almost four months (short of three days).
That is how long it will take the supposed august Senate of the Philippines to review the rules of procedure for an impeachment court, have new judicial robes tailored, administer the oaths of its 23 senator judges, and then set the date for the trial to begin. Senate President Francis Escudero has said the trial will commence on June 2. Sara Duterte was impeached Feb. 5.
Let us compare the records. The Philippines has had three impeachments: President Joseph Estrada (the trial was aborted), Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez (she resigned before the start of the trial), and Chief Justice Renato Corona (convicted). Did their trials begin after an inordinately long period of time contrary to what the Constitution prescribes?
In his press conference to the Senate Press Corps on Feb. 6, a day after the impeachment, Escudero made much use of the Gutierrez impeachment as his reference.
Escudero said her trial by the Senate sitting as an impeachment court began on May 19, 2011. The House of Representatives impeached Ombudsman Gutierrez on March 22, 2011. The next day March 23, House justice committee chair Niel Tupas Jr. transmitted the six articles of impeachment to the Senate together with Reps. Lorenzo Tañada III, Teddy Casiño, Rodolfo Fariñas and Neri Colmenares. With them were two of the lead complainants in the two impeachment complaints filed in the House – Risa Hontiveros and Renato Reyes. The group arrived at the office of Senate Secretary Emma Lirio Reyes at almost 3 p.m.
We can give the senate president some latitude. Let’s just say he had a lapse of memory. The Gutierrez trial was set by the Senate to begin on May 9, 2011, not May 19 in Escudero’s memory. We know that because ten days before the trial, Gutierrez resigned from office. From the date she was impeached, it took only one month and 17 days for the trial to begin. The trial, of course, never materialized.
The senate president said the articles of impeachment for Sara Duterte arrived at “the last minute.” He later mentioned they received it before 5 p.m. and they adjourned at 7:30 p.m. “Halos mag a-alas singko na ng hapon.” Sen. Joel Villanueva shouted through the microphone to announce the adjournment, as if to make his statement on the impeachment subject (two of his family members are up for reelection; are the evangelical Villanuevas afraid to antagonize the Duterte voters of Bocaue, Bulacan?).
Escudero said it would take them much time, implying some months, for the Senate to review and revise the rules of procedure (“mahaba ang proseso”). But for the Gutierrez impeachment, it took the senate only hours after it received the articles of impeachment to revise the rules, based on the 2000 Estrada impeachment trial. Yes, hours, not four months. Here’s the link on the Senate’s adoption of the new rules. At this, we can say Escudero was lying or the 23 senators are playing games with our memory.
Exactly what is the reason why the Senate cannot convene while it is on legislative recess? European vacations of the senators? Escudero was mum. It can already meet this week to revise those rules and decide on when the trial is to begin. That will not take a full day. Only seven are running for reelection and their campaign period begins February 11. Impeachment is not legislative work, as if we do not know that.
The Estrada impeachment, in fact, took less than a month for the Senate to set the trial schedule. He was impeached in the House on November 13, 2000. Seven days later, the senators took their oaths as judges. Trial began on December 7, 2000, or only twenty days after his House impeachment.
Renato Corona was impeached in the House on December 12, 2011. The Senate received the articles of impeachment only the following day, on December 13. Escudero said the Corona trial began in the Senate on January 19, 2012. Another lapse of his memory? The Corona trial opened on January 16, 2012, or only one month and four days after his impeachment.
How do the three impeachments compare in intensity? For the Estrada impeachment in the House, 115 legislators signed; at that time, 1/3 of the House membership was 85. There was no plenary vote. Recall that House Speaker Manuel Villar declared the transmittal of the articles of impeachment by way of his opening prayer. For the Gutierrez impeachment, 210 legislators voted to impeach, and 46 voted against. For the Corona impeachment, 188 voted to impeach; the 1/3 threshold then was 95. Sara Duterte’s 240 lawmakers who signed and took their oaths (1/3 of the current House is 102) made it unprecedented in the political history of the country.
And then Escudero made bones about what the Constitution exactly says on when trial is to proceed. He began with an anecdote:
“Sasagutin ko rin yung isang napakinggan kong abogado na tila eksperto din daw sa mga bagay na ito. Sabi nya “the senate shall immediately proceed with trial.” Busina lang ng konti pero parang di nya nabasa yung Saligang Batas. Walang sinabing immediately ang Saligang Batas. Ang sinabi ng Saligang Batas ay “shall forthwith proceed with trial.”
That was sly. First he dashes the word “immediately” which is not the word the Constitution used. He said it uses the word “forthwith.” But because forthwith actually means immediately, he then refrained from explaining what forthwith means.
No one but no one among the members of the Senate Press Corps remembered to check vocabularies. It can be done right from their mobile phones. The whole range of giants are there: Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, Dictionary.com, Collins Dictionary, Oxford English Dictionary, etc., etc.
Forthwith: immediately, directly, instantly, now, without any delay, right away, straightaway, straight off, at once. There is no other meaning.
It was akin to Escudero asking us to make sense of a word salad: Gotcha none everything Manila all right blue yesterday tea morning night June 2. Because that’s what word salads are – a jumble of incoherent words that do not make sense.
June 2 does not make sense.
The views in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of VERA Files.
