VP’s impeach trial delay sparks minority outrage

Members of the House minority bloc berated the Senate on Monday for continuously delaying the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, urging it to refrain from invoking pending bills as an excuse to postpone the proceeding, which has been put on hold for four months now.

Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado Jr. lamented that Senate President Chiz Escudero’s decision to move the presentation of articles of impeachment against the VP, originally scheduled for 2 June, to 11 June sets a “dangerous precedent” — allowing Duterte to take the charges lightly while the clamor for accountability is ignored.

“Are we to tell the Filipino people that impeachable offenses committed by the second highest official of the land are less urgent than our legislative targets? Is this delay not, in effect, a compromise of our solemn duty as public servants sworn to uphold the Constitution?” the Liberal Party stalwart stressed.

“When did convenience become a valid excuse to delay justice? When did we decide that institutional housekeeping is more important than institutional integrity?” he said.

Bordado argued that the gravity of the allegations against Duterte — including the purported misuse of over P600 million in confidential funds, defiance of congressional oversight, and unbecoming conduct — is a compelling reason to prompt the Senate to start the long-stalled trial.

He advised the senators, who will sit as judges at the trial, to drop their political allegiance and prioritize the rule of law.

“As legislators, we are often measured not by what we pass, but by what we permit. If we permit delay in the face of alleged abuse of power, then we too become complicit in the erosion of our democracy,” he pointed out. “The nation is watching. And the nation deserves better.”

Rep. France Castro of ACT-Teachers Partylist voiced a similar concern, warning that delaying accountability for Duterte would pave the way for abuse and corruption, normalizing the mishandling of public funds.

For months, the impeachment trial has been on the back burner, with House prosecutors and Escudero trading barbs over the latter’s apparent reluctance to convene the Senate as an impeachment court, citing, among other things, the urgent need to pass 12 pending priority bills of the administration before the 19th Congress adjourns on 14 June.

Escudero said the impeachment trial could wait until the next Congress, while the passage of the key measures would lapse on 14 June.

Meanwhile, Speaker Martin Romualdez, whom Duterte accused of orchestrating her impeachment, said the House has left to the Senate’s “sound discretion as to how they want to proceed and conduct” the impeachment trial.

This, however, triggered concerns among House members, who viewed it as a deliberate attempt to prematurely terminate the trial without conducting it.

Constitutionalists and legislators shared divergent stances on whether the impeachment could cross over to the 20th Congress.

Some experts argued that the Senate could no longer act on the impeachment in the 20th Congress, raising concerns that it may breach the Constitution which prohibits the filing of more than one impeachment case against the same official within one year.

Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal warned that taking up the impeachment in the next Congress could violate the one-year ban on repeat filings, since it would be treated “as if presented for the first time.”

Citing Senate Rule 44, Macalintal explained that unfinished business, including bills and resolutions, are terminated at the adjournment of each Congress but may be refiled as new in the succeeding Congress.

But House prosecutors insisted that impeachment is sui generis — a class of its own — not legislative in nature, and therefore not subject to standard congressional rules.

Duterte herself had petitioned the Supreme Court to rule against the impeachment complaint, accusing the House of Representatives of circumventing the one-year bar when they impeached her on 5 February, only two months after three earlier complaints were filed against her in December last year.