Nothing new has been heard from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. regarding the impending impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

“No, not yet,” answered Palace press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro when asked if they had talked with Marcos about the trial.

“We’ve met with the President several times, but he really hasn’t mentioned the impeachment to us. It’s still the same when we ask him — let’s say, about the impeachment,” she added.

Neither has the President commented on calls for him to call a special session for the 19th Congress so the Senate can start the trial, with members of the House of Representatives, which impeached Duterte, serving as prosecutors.

In November last year, Marcos confirmed the leaked messages he supposedly sent to lawmakers in Congress opposing Duterte’s impeachment.

At the time, he said the impeachment complaint against Duterte was “unimportant” in the “larger scheme of things” and would “tie down” both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

“This is not important. This does not make a difference to even one single Filipino life. So why waste time on it?” Marcos told reporters in a previous interview.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte, with 215 members endorsing the fourth complaint for “betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes.”

Last-minute move

Three earlier impeachment complaints against Duterte were not acted upon by the chamber.

The House Secretary General transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate in the afternoon of 5 Feb., the last session day of Congress.

The Senate adjourned without endorsing the impeachment motion against Duterte.

Senate President Francis Escudero has maintained that an impeachment trial cannot proceed during a session break.

He said the earliest the 19th Congress can tackle the impeachment case is on 2 June when the session resumes, or earlier if Marcos calls a special session.

But according to Castro, Marcos is not inclined to call a special session on his own.

“It’s like, the way we see it, it would be an awkward position on the part of the President to voluntarily call for a special session, considering that there is this ongoing intrigue that the President is behind the impeachment proceedings,” she said.

However, she pointed out that the President had said he would call a special session to start the trial if the Senate requested one. However, none has come from Escudero.

“No, I said that already because under the Constitution, I can only ask for that after consultation with the majority and minority floor leaders and with the consent of the Speaker of the House for urgent legislation,” he said.