Diligence

The impeachment trial might have to wait a little longer, it seems.

The new Senate president will be chosen on July 28, the morning before the State of the Nation Address (SONA). Both chambers of Congress will choose their respective leaders on this day.

Before a new Senate president is chosen by his colleagues, there will be no presiding officer for the impeachment court.

Some have argued that the Senate President of the 19th Congress, Francis Escudero, could claim holdover powers and proceed with the trial. But that will be sloppy. It will be presumptuous on Escudero’s part. He would rather wait until all the formalities covering the chamber’s leadership are completed. That is simply how he operates: keen on procedural neatness.

Recall, last February, a majority of congressmen suddenly found the enlightenment to sign a freshly written impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. That came like a lightning bolt. They could not have seriously read the complaint, given time limitations – much less take the leisure to contemplate the consequences of such a document.

What was eventually the fourth draft of an impeachment complaint is a rehash of three previous impeachment complaints the House leadership kept frozen in some sort of limbo in the few meters separating the Speaker’s desk from the Secretary-General’s. By some legal fiction, first three complaints that most legal experts found laughable are deemed not submitted to avoid violating the constitutional injunction against multiple impeachment filings within a one-year period.

At least one congressman publicly admitted that signing a complaint no one read came with its rewards: projects for the districts funded, of course, from the massive insertions marring the 2025 national budget.

It took some time (about three months) for proper lawyers to reengineer the complaint so that it becomes less laughable. The fourth version was signed with literally a couple of hours remaining before the congressional election period recess. Armed with supposedly verified signatures, the House Secretary-General rushed the document across town to the Senate – literally at the last hour.

Unfortunately for the mob at the House, the complaint was not on the Senate’s agenda for the day. Those who hoped another impeachment spectacle (the political equivalent of porn) would unfold forthwith were sullen. They unleashed a cruel social media barrage against the Senate and its leadership.

Senate President Escudero stood his ground. Impeachment is not to be trifled with. Each formality will have to be precisely observed. He did not want to be rushed into a grave political exercise with muddy tracks. He found demands to call the Senate into a special session to consider the impeachment complaint unreasonable – driven by those lusting for a dirty sideshow.

If Escudero is guilty of anything, it is being a conscientious lawyer who wants all procedural grounds precisely covered. He should find comfort in being attacked with equal virulence by supporters of House Speaker Martin Romualdez and those of Vice President Sara Duterte.

When Congress resumed sessions last month, the Senate decided to remand the complaint back to the House of Representatives. The Senate wanted to be assured the submitted complaint did not violate constitutional rules on multiple impeachment and that due diligence was observed in its submission.

Since Congress is now in transition, the Senate wanted the House to confirm they intended to pursue the complaint into the 20th Congress. That might seem a trifle ministerial. But in a high-profile impeachment trial, this detail matters.

The Senate did not want to be caught trying a case from a previous Congress that the current one is disinterested in pursuing. There should be no room for such a colossal embarrassment.

Also: the Senate wants the House to confirm appointment of its panel of prosecutors. An impeachment trial is of such grave import, the Senate must not allow any random person walking into its hall claiming to be part of the prosecution.

Our congressmen, historically, tended to treat impeachment lightly. Recall how the impeachment complaint against then sitting president Joseph Estrada was passed during the pause in proceedings after the opening prayer. That was meant to circumvent prolonged debates on the floor.

The House of Representatives did not thoroughly study the complaint filed against then sitting Chief Justice Renato Corona. Among the complainants is the group led by now Senator Risa Hontiveros. In a later ruling, the Supreme Court found Corona committed no criminal offense. A respected jurist was ruined by a lynching mob that had no clear idea what due diligence meant.

Lately, rabid anti-Duterte partisans demanded that senators who show partisanship recuse themselves from the trial proceedings. Escudero laughed that off.

If this demand is given due course, then those who have displayed clear anti-Sara partisanship should likewise recuse themselves. If this happens, no one might be left manning the impeachment court.

We elected our senators. They should be expected to discharge their duties responsibly and with the integrity of our Republic foremost in mind.

When the senators don the gowns of jurists, they play a role distinct from routine legislation. Whatever judgment they render is beyond appeal. The impeachment court operates on its own rules and stands above the usual political fray. It is an authority unto itself.

Escudero is correct in saying the Senate, convened as an impeachment court, commands extraordinary powers. Those powers have been used to encourage the congressmen to behave mindfully.