Vice President Sara Duterte has come to the defense of Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, dismissing talk that he’s afraid of her and this is why the Senate has yet to begin her impeachment trial.

“In my experience, Senate President Chiz Escudero isn’t the type to get scared,” Duterte told reporters in an interview on 3 June in The Hague, Netherlands.

“Back when he was in the House of Representatives, there was a group called the Spice Boys — young, fearless congressmen. I think he was part of that group,” she recalled.

She added: “We’ve never seen him act like a scared politician. So I honestly don’t know where that idea is coming from — that he’s afraid of me. I really don’t.”

Duterte was responding to remarks made by Akbayan partylist Representative Perci Cendaña, who had earlier endorsed the impeachment complaint against her. Cendaña had questioned Escudero’s commitment to the trial and even asked outright: Is Escudero afraid of the Vice President?

Cendaña emphasized that convening the Senate as an impeachment court is “a solemn constitutional duty, not some seasonal accessory you bring out or stash away depending on the political weather or personal interests.”

Escudero has denied he is protecting Duterte, or that fear has anything to do with the delays.

The Senate has since moved the presentation of the articles of impeachment from 2 June to 11 June.

For her part, Duterte also addressed the criticism from members of the Makabayan bloc, who accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of not doing enough to push the impeachment process forward.

“I wasn’t aware of that, and I haven’t been following everything going on in the Philippines,” Duterte said. “We’re in a completely different time zone here. While we’re wide awake in the Netherlands, everyone back home is asleep.”

She added: “But from what I understand, there have been several procedural lapses — violations of the Constitution — that are at the center of all this.”

The Vice President was impeached by the House of Representatives on 5 February with 215 lawmakers backing the complaint. She faces accusations of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, largely over the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds of her office and the Department of Education.