Start the ball rolling on VP Sara’s impeachment
I beg to disagree with professor Randy David’s article on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte (see “Too late,” Public Lives, 6/8/25). Sen. Francis Tolentino even declared the case “functionally dismissed.” I am not a lawyer, just a regular citizen and do not know the meaning of “functionally dismissed” which may or may not be a legal term.
There are still more than 15 days left for the 19th Congress before the 20th Congress begins, when the newly elected legislators will assume office on July 1. Why won’t the leaders of the Senate of the 19th Congress start the ball rolling to act as judges for the impeachment proceedings? The House of Representatives would not have decided to impeach the Vice President if there was no evidence against her. Don’t we trust House lawmakers? It is a disgrace if senators would not finish what the members of the House of Representatives had started.
If I were one of the Senate members, I would do my best to complete the whole process. I will trust the findings of the Lower House and will not question their verdict. Together with my Senate cojudges, I will review all the pieces of evidence thoroughly, ethically, and with no bias. I will be willing to stay in the Senate continuously for days and nights until we have a decision, just like the recent papal conclave. This is the least that I can do for the Filipino people who are paying my salary. I think this is what most of my constituents would like me to do—no dillydallying.
We Filipinos would like our senators to be knowledgeable, to be statesmen and stateswomen, but most importantly, patriotic—”Bayan Muna.” This is the time to show us that they are not “trapos” but true “public servants.”
Whatever happens to the impeachment proceedings—whether the Vice President is acquitted or not—our senators must show to us that they do their jobs out of patriotism, i.e., love of country.
Ida M. Tiongco,
idationgco@gmail.com
