Senate prez: ‘Forthwith’ means ‘the following day’
Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III on Thursday committed to begin the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte “forthwith,” or the day after the articles of impeachment against her are transmitted to the Senate by the House of Representatives.
Sotto made the remarks after emerging from a caucus among senators to discuss preparations for a possible impeachment trial of the Vice President, a day after the House justice committee decided there was probable cause to impeach her.
He said that “if ever we receive the articles of impeachment, we will act on it forthwith. For me, (the term) forthwith (means) the following day.”
He was commenting on the Supreme Court ruling announced on Wednesday which made clarifications regarding the term “forthwith” in the constitutional provision on impeachment.
The court said that “forthwith” was not synonymous with “immediate.” An impeachment trial should beheld within a “reasonable time” at the discretion of the Senate, it said.
Sotto said that the high court’s statement was in reaction to the petition that questioned the Senate’s hesitation to try Duterte “forthwith” after it received the first impeachment complaint against her last year, which was later nullified by the Supreme Court for violating the one-year bar rule.
“That decision does not apply to the work of the Senate. It does not have anything to do with the work of the Senate. We are a coequal branch,” he said.
He said he called Thursday’s caucus to discuss the Senate agenda for next month “and then the possibility of receiving the articles of impeachment.”
“Then we will be discussing the possibility of what preparation should be done, and the timetable—that’s what’s crucial,” Sotto told reporters.
Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, the House justice panel head, said that the earliest vote by the plenary may be on May 11.
Sotto said that if the House members vote to pass the impeachment on that day, he expected the articles of impeachment would be transmitted to the Senate the next day, May 12. On May 13, “we will discuss it already and convene as an impeachment court,” he said.
Of the 24 senators, only Sotto and nine others attended—Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, Lito Lapid, JV Ejercito, Robin Padilla, Pia Cayetano and Camille Villar.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian was on a trip to Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, according to his staff. Sen. Erwin Tulfo had an “important engagement” while his brother, Sen. Raffy Tulfo, was presiding over a Senate labor committee hearing.
No explanations for their absence were given by the other senators—Bam Aquino, Francis Pangilinan and Mark Villar (who are members of the majority), and the minority senators, former Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Senate Minority Leader Alan Cayetano, Christopher “Bong” Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Jinggoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva and Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa. Dela Rosa has been skipping Senate sessions since November after word spread that the International Criminal Court had issued a warrant of arrest against him.
Before heading to their closed-door meeting, Sotto clarified that as far as impeachment trial schedules were concerned, “everything is speculative.”
“So, again, everything will rely on whether the articles of impeachment will be transmitted to us or not,” he said.
Once the impeachment articles are transmitted, senators will be called to another caucus, Sotto said after meeting with his colleagues. He said Padilla would relay what was discussed to his fellow minority senators.
On Wednesday, the House committee on justice unanimously declared that there was probable cause in the two impeachment complaints against Duterte for alleged corruption and violations of the Constitution.
‘Crash course’
The justice panel is set to present its committee report in a plenary session, before the whole House votes to approve or reject Duterte’s impeachment. The impeachment would need the support of at least 106 members, or one-third of the 318-member House.
Both Sotto and Lacson said that they had been reviewing the impeachment rules as part of their personal preparations.
“I, like the Senate President, have a crash course on the rules of court. I also invited a judge to brief me on these matters, as well as the compilation of evidence,” Lacson said.
Cayetano, Gatchalian and Rodante Marcoleta were asked how they were personally preparing.
Cayetano, whose brother, Alan, is also a lawyer like her, said that she had “some preparations,” adding: “I took part in a previous impeachment, right?”
Gatchalian said that he was studying in advance as recommended by the Senate leadership.
“I’m not a lawyer, so I really need to study hard. There are senators, especially those who are not lawyers, because of the many legal procedures, we need to study them,” he said.
Marcoleta, a lawyer, admitted that he was not making any personal preparations.
“That’s how I am. Whatever comes, comes,” he told reporters.
In all, the Senate has five lawyers—the Cayetano siblings, Marcoleta, Escudero and Pangilinan.
******
Get real-time news updates: inqnews.net/inqviber
