MBC, Prelate urge Senate to convene impeach court
The Makati Business Club (MBC) on Monday called for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court for Vice President Sara Duterte, becoming the first major business group to push for the formal proceedings against the country’s second highest official.
In a statement, the group said the impeachment process was a “test of public accountability,” warning that failure to uphold the rule of law could have long-term consequences for investor confidence.
“The Makati Business Club calls upon the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty to convene the impeachment court, and proceed with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte,” said the group that represents over 400 companies.
“We view this issue as a governance issue and a test of public accountability and the rule of law,” the group said, adding that the process would allow both the public and the Vice President to confront the allegations in a proper legal forum.
The group, founded 44 years ago and became the voice of Filipino and foreign business interests during the waning years of the Marcos Sr. dictatorship, warned that institutional inaction could erode investor trust.
“If we do not follow the rule of law, how can we expect to attract foreign and even local investors to bring in long term investments, which would lead to the creation of jobs?” the MBC said.
The impeachment trial, it said, is a venue to assess the charges against the Vice President through proper evidence.
It added that if the Senate does not proceed, it risks betraying public trust and denying Duterte the chance to respond to the allegations.
The MBC’s statement adds to earlier calls from various sectors including legal experts, academic institutions and civil society groups urging the Senate to act on the impeachment complaint backed by 215 members of the House of Representatives and transmitted on Feb. 5.
The impeachment complaint against Duterte includes allegations of misuse of over P600 million in confidential funds from 2022 to 2024. Critics have raised concerns over transparency, oversight and possible violations of fiscal rules.
‘Work of the devil’
A Catholic prelate had harsher words against the delay.
In a scathing commentary against the monthslong wait for the start of the impeachment trial, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas said senators and others who impede the process were committing a grievous sin akin to the work of the devil himself.
“To delay the trial or even to abort it is to suppress the truth. It is a sin. The opponent, the devil, is rightly called Prince of Lies,” Villegas said in a statement on Monday.
“It is a sin to suppress or conceal the truth. The nation has a right to the truth that can only be established by law and evidence. To deprive the people of the full truth is a form of robbery,” said Villegas, a former president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP).
According to the archbishop, the delay caused by some senators “smacks of negligence and laziness” and a form of “procrastination” that speaks of “a lack of diligence or commitment.”
“Not to pursue the truth when you have the capacity to know it forthwith is a grave sin of omission. It is morally unacceptable,” he said.
Villegas deplored the move by some senators allied with the Vice President to abort the impeachment trial, saying it was a “sin against justice.”
“It must be commenced and it must continue to a just verdict,” he said. “It is wrong to delay or abort it, according to no less than the framers of the Constitution itself. I add—it is sinfully wrong. It offends truth and justice.”
His statement adds to the growing pressure from the politically vocal Catholic Church in the Philippines.
The Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines, which has more than 1,500 member-schools, and the Caritas Philippines, the social action arm of the CBCP, have earlier called on the Senate to proceed with Duterte’s impeachment trial, four months after the House of Representatives transmitted the articles of impeachment.
