Escudero: VP Sara’s impeachment will cross over to 20th Congress but…
MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte may carry over to the 20th Congress, Senate President Francis Escudero said.
However, Escudero clarified that this would only happen as a technicality, since the 20th Congress would have to decide whether or not to resume the impeachment process.
In a press conference, Escudero was asked if the Senate impeachment court’s recent orders to the House of Representatives signaled the continuation of the proceedings into the next Congress.
There has been ongoing debate on whether an impeachment case can extend beyond one Congress. With the 19th Congress ending in June, some argue that all of its business, including the impeachment, should also end.
Others, however, believe that only legislative work ends with the outgoing Congress, and that the Senate’s function as an impeachment court continues into the next.
In Duterte’s response to the impeachment summons, the vice president took the side of the former.
“Sa pananaw at palagay ko, oo. Dahil nga, kung hindi man tumawid, kailangan mag-convene pa rin ang 20th Congress impeachment court para pagpasyahan 'yan. 'Yun palang, tumawid na,” Escudero said in a press conference.
(In my view and opinion, yes. Because, even if it does not cross over, the 20th Congress impeachment court still needs to convene to decide on that. On that end, it has crossed over.)
However, this is not the only way the impeachment has crossed over to the 20th Congress.
When the Senate returned the impeachment articles to the House, it had two orders: to certify the constitutionality of the impeachment complaint and that the House was interested in pursuing the impeachment in the 20th Congress.
However, the 20th Congress does not exist yet, both for the House and the Senate.
Escudero said that it would now be up to the 20th Congress to set the date for the impeachment trial.
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