Impeach VP Sara Duterte 2.0

The Senate impeachment court starts today the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian officially “notified” VP Sara to appear before the Senate as the impeachment court. In a notice dated July 2 and signed by Gatchalian, VP Sara was directed to appear before the impeachment court pursuant to Rule 7 of the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials and in accordance with the writ of summons issued against her on May 19.

“You are hereby notified that trial will commence on the 6th day of July at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, and are further directed to appear on said date, in person or through counsel, before the impeachment court at the Session Hall of the Senate of the Philippines, Pasay City,” the notice reads.

VP Sara is ready to appear before the Senate impeachment court “if necessary.” The battery of lawyers defending her earlier gave this public assurance. As a lawyer herself, VP Sara has publicly displayed her being feisty and legally prepared to lock horns with lawmakers as she did in the past congressional and Senate hearings she attended.

With Gatchalian as the presiding officer, the impeachment trial will be held from Monday to Wednesday. With a proposed 92 trial days, the impeachment proceedings are expected to last seven to eight months. That is if the hearings are conducted three times a week, the Senate President cited. As of last Friday, Gatchalian admitted, the impeachment trial schedule is still being finalized.

Both chambers of the 20th Congress are currently in recess.

There are no legislative sessions that they – as lawmakers – need to attend to. Ergo, this should not pose any time constraints for all the senator-judges and the 15-man House prosecution panel to devote and spend more time to ensure a speedy impeachment trial.

There are more urgent national concerns to address in these last two years of the Marcos administration. It’s just a waste of time, resources and energy to prolong the impeachment trial more than necessary.

The second regular session of this Congress will start three weeks later. It will be formally opened with the traditional State of the Nation Address (SONA) of the President at the Batasan Pambansa in Quezon City on July 27.

When President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) delivers his penultimate SONA, the impeachment trial of VP Sara – his estranged UniTeam partner – hangs over his head. PBBM himself earlier survived impeachment attempts initiated against him that were quickly crushed by the pro-administration House of Representatives.

After the SONA, the schedule of the impeachment trial will be adjusted to Tuesdays to Thursdays and also start at 2 p.m. Normally, senators conduct their sessions at 3 p.m. Since the venue of the impeachment court is the Senate session hall, the senators will instead shift their sessions to 10 o’clock in the morning. The House members will continue with their usual sessions that start at 3 p.m. without the attendance of 15 or so congressmen directly involved in the impeachment trial.

Barring any last minute hitches that may crop up, it’s the moment of truth – literally and otherwise – for VP Sara to finally face and personally address these festering accusations against her.

However, VP Sara and her defense team are evidently still counting on some sort of repeat deux ex machina from the Supreme Court (SC).

The first impeachment case against VP Sara filed during the defunct 19th Congress got botched. Her defense lawyers succeeded in convincing the SC on constitutional infirmities they invoked, particularly on the one-year bar on new impeachment complaints. Lessons learned from the SC ruling, the House justice committee tried to closely adhere to the prescribed due process on impeachment proceedings.

There are at least three pending petitions that all seek to stop the latest impeachment case on VP Sara based on legal and constitutional grounds. One of which was filed by VP Sara herself as petitioner, asking the High Court to dismiss the four Articles of Impeachment that the House of Representatives have completed and elevated to the Senate earlier this year.

The SC also has not acted on the two other petitions that similarly argued the complaints on VP Sara violated the rule prohibiting multiple filing of impeachment complaints within a year and that the House impeachment hearings were a “fishing expedition,” among other things.

This is not to mention the possible complication, though not completely related, the pending petition recently filed at the SC by erstwhile Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano. In his recent Facebook livestreaming, Cayetano called out to the SC to rule as soon as they can on his petition that questioned the validity of the recent election of Gatchalian as new Senate president. Cayetano warned Gatchalian cannot preside over the Senate impeachment court while his questioned election as Senate chief is not settled by the SC.

From a non-lawyers’ view, this is grasping at straws in Cayetano’s bid to get back the Senate leadership. In layman’s language, it is moot and academic already after 13 senators elected Gatchalian and the rest of the new Senate majority bloc.

The High Court could have easily issued an injunction if indeed there was grave abuse of authority and injustice done to the petitioner.

Under Senate Rules, the Senate president leads the impeachment trial. But in the revised Senate Rules on Impeachment Trials they recently approved in plenary and published, senators may elect a presiding officer. Sen. Panfilo Lacson earlier raised the possibility that former Senate president  Francis Escudero, who is a lawyer, might be tapped as presiding officer for the impeachment trial.

Escudero previously presided over the first impeachment complaint of VP Sara that crossed over from the 19th Congress to the 20th Congress. Escudero’s controversial interpretation “to act forthwith” was later vindicated by the subsequent SC ruling that junked the first impeachment case on VP Sara.

It’s the turn now of non-lawyer Senate president Gatchalian to preside over the second impeachment case on VP Sara.