Groups pushing VP trial view new Senate majority with concern
Activists, legal experts, Catholic church leaders and House members have expressed concern over the new Senate majority’s intentions regarding the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, despite assurances from the chamber’s new leader that it will proceed with her trial “forthwith.”
Groups under the coalition Tindig Pilipinas are expected to gather outside the Senate today to call for the immediate start the impeachment trial and also for the surrender of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa to the International Criminal Court (ICC). (See related stories on Page A2.)
In a press conference on Tuesday, Tindig coconvener Francis Aquino Dee took note of “the people’s anger yesterday after all the maneuverings in the Senate.”
He was referring to Sen. Vicente Sotto III’s sudden replacement as Senate President by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a move pulled off by the Vice President’s allies in the chamber just as the House was beginning to vote on the articles of impeachment against Duterte.
Dee was not buying Cayetano’s statement that Sotto’s ouster was not a coup and had nothing to do with Duterte’s impeachment.
“This is not a move by the innocent but by one who is using influence and power to cover up for someone else and to bastardize the Constitution,” said the activist, a grandson of the late President Corazon Aquino. “We won’t allow this. They should be ready for the people’s anger.”
“We started on a very bad foot, but this is the people’s call. Show that you stand up for justice,” Dee also said.
ICC’s authority
Tindig Pilipinas earlier filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte, but withdrew it last March to support a similar complaint filed by lawyers and religious leaders.
Dino de Leon, the group’s lawyer in the complaint, called Monday’s leadership change an “embarrassment” for the Senate.
As to the chamber giving shelter to Dela Rosa, De Leon stressed that the ICC has the authority to order the senator’s arrest, citing the 2021 Supreme Court ruling in Pangilinan v. Cayetano.
In the decision involving Sen. Francis Pangilinan and Cayetano, who was then the foreign secretary of President Rodrigo Duterte, the high court upheld the ICC’s authority over cases filed within a year from the Philippines’ withdrawal from the court on March 17, 2018.
The case of crimes against humanity against Duterte and the alleged co-perpetrators in his drug war, such as Dela Rosa, was filed as early as 2017.
‘Dereliction of duty’
Also on Tuesday, legal experts also reminded the Senate that it is constitutionally bound to convene as an impeachment court.
“We… wish to remind the Senators that refusing to sit as a Court of Impeachment is not a constitutional option,” said the statement signed, among others, by retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, San Beda University Graduate School of Law dean Ranhilio Aquino, and San Beda law professor Antonio La Viña.
They also warned that failure to convene may be deemed a “dereliction of duty” and therefore “administratively actionable.”
Akbayan Rep. Chel Diokno, a human rights lawyer, said “It is already incumbent upon [the Senate] to conduct a trial.”
“And the Constitution says ‘conduct a trial,’ as it does not give an option to the Senate to dismiss the case outright,” said Diokno.
‘Hostile court’
For political science professor Ederson Tapia of the University of Makati, Cayetano’s assurance in convening the Senate offers little relief.
“Convening the [Senate as an] impeachment court is easy, almost perfunctory,” Tapia said in a chat message when reached for comment. “The real challenge is whether the trial can proceed within a reasonable period of time and whether it would be conducted fairly and impartially.”
He also noted that “The environment [in the Senate] now appears less naturally favorable to the House prosecutors.”
“The new Senate majority is likely to approach the impeachment case with far greater caution toward convicting the Vice President,” Tapia said.
Anthony Lawrence Borja, associate professor of political science at De La Salle University, agreed that “It will certainly be a more hostile court.”
But he also noted that this court “can be swayed by public opinion.”
Interviewed by reporters on Tuesday, Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima wondered “What is their plan? Will the new majority let the [impeachment] process run its due course in a timely manner or do they have other plans?”
‘Moral responsibility’
Church groups also urged the Senate to uphold the truth in the impeachment case against the Vice President.
“You now have this opportunity to restore our people’s faith and confidence in our public institutions that adhere to the rule of law and serve the common good in pursuit of justice and truth,” the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said in a statement, as it also urged the public to be vigilant on this matter.
Another Catholic group, the Clergy for Good Governance, expressed concern that “truth and justice may once again be sacrificed for political survival and alliances.”
CGG also reminded the senators they have a “moral responsibility as leaders” and asked them to show that “justice still applies equally to everyone.”—WITH A REPORT FROM GILLIAN VILLANUEVA
