VP Sara’s trial should start soon, Koko insists
It’s now up to the public if they want impeached Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial to start soon, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said on Saturday after Senate President Francis Escudero rejected anew his proposal to hold the proceedings during their legislative break.
“If this impeachment is really a priority for the people, they should pressure the senators for us to hold the hearings early,” Pimentel told radio dwIZ’s “Usapang Senado” program.
“If the senators don’t feel any pressure, that means that the more than 200 House members who filed the impeachment complaint did not get the pulse of their constituents,” he said.
The opposition senator clarified that his insistence to begin Duterte’s trial ahead of the resumption of their plenary session on June 2 was not just about determining the Vice President’s guilt or innocence.
Stuck on ‘forthwith’
Rather, he said that it was in compliance with the duty of the Senate to proceed with the trial of an impeached government official “forthwith,” or immediately, as spelled out under Article VI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution.
“If the senators don’t feel any pressure or clamor to start the impeachment trial, nobody will really act,” he noted.
Escudero had earlier dismissed claims that there was a mounting “clamor” for them to hold the impeachment trial at once since his office had only received three letters while only one petition had been filed in the Supreme Court on the matter.
According to Pimentel, Escudero had assured him that his decision to come out with a tentative schedule of the impeachment trial had the support of the 20 other members of the Senate majority bloc.
He said he was able to discuss the impeachment issue with Escudero on Friday when the Senate leader accepted his invitation to visit Marikina City, where Pimentel is running as district representative in the midterm elections in May.
Aside from Pimentel, only Sen. Risa Hontiveros belongs to the minority group in the chamber.
“I told the Senate President that I assume that his latest decision has the backing of the majority senators. He told me that my assumption was correct,” he said.
“That means that [Escudero] is confident that he really has the support of the majority,” he added.
Besides, Pimentel noted that it was only him and Hontiveros who were calling on the Senate leader to let Duterte’s trial begin right away and for the senators to have an all-member caucus to discuss the impeachment process.
Absence of numbers
He also did not hide his disappointment after Escudero and his colleagues thumbed down his view that there was no legal obstacle for them to start Duterte’s impeachment trial during their recess.
“I wrote down my opinion so that all senators would be able to read it. But I was not able to convince any of them even if what I was saying has a clear legal basis,” he lamented.
Pimentel, however, may have actually persuaded a member of the majority bloc after Sen. Nancy Binay supported his proposal for the senators to meet during the congressional break.
“I hope that there would be a caucus before we return to the plenary on June 2 for us to be clarified what would happen upon our resumption,” Binay said in a separate radio interview.
“We’re used to having caucuses under the previous Senate presidents. So I think it would be better for us to meet even after the elections in May,” she said.
Escudero had earlier said that none of the senators he had spoken with was willing to meet to discuss Duterte’s trial since some of them were busy with the elections while the others were on vacation abroad.
Seven senators—Francis Tolentino, Pia Cayetano, Ramon Revilla Jr., Lito Lapid, Imee Marcos, Christopher Go and Ronald dela Rosa—were already tied up in their reelection bids.
