Will Senate President Francis Escudero and his fellow senators heed the mounting clamor that they comply with their Constitutional mandate to forthwith proceed with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Forthwith, meaning, not tomorrw, not next week or next month but right now, posthaste?

On Tuesday, 205 signatories including professors and academics, bishops and priests, artists, activists, and student leaders from schools across the country expressed grave concern in a statement over the Senate’s failure to act on the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte which were transmitted by the House of Representives on February 5, 2025.

To recall, four impeachment cases were filed against the VP and endorsed by members of the House of Representatives. Three cases filed in December 2024 included allegations of graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, her alleged role in extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, her failure to condemn China’s aggressive claims of sovereignty over Philippine territorial waters, the illegal use and mishandling of confidential funds, and gross abuse of discretionary powers over some P600 million in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education of which she was formerly Secretary.

On 5 February 2025, 215 lawmakers or two-thirds of the House of Representatives inked a fourth complaint against the VP on charges including corruption, a plot to assassinate President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., incitement to insurrection, and public disorder, paving the way for her impeachment.

On the same day, the House of Representatives transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate, which, to date, has yet to act on them. This, despite a specific provision in the Philippine Constitution that, upon receipt of the articles of impeachment against an impeachable government official, the Senate must proceed to convene to trial “forthwith,” that is, immediately, without delay.

First, Senate President Francis Escudero puts the matter aside, citing the mid-term elections, setting a date — June 2 — for the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment.

In June, Escudero changes his mind, saying the Senate must first address priority legislative measures before the 19th Congress adjourns. He moves the date for that necessary initial step to initiate impeachment proceedings in the Senate to June 11, at 4 in the afternoon.

The new date comes before June 12, a national holiday. And what happens the following day, on June 13? The 19th Congress adjourns, sine die.

What has happened to the Constitution’s specific mandate that the Senate must “forthwith” convene an impeachment court to try, not any ordinary public official, but THE Vice President of the Republic, for alleged grave crimes? Does the Senate President have the mental faculty to grasp the meaning of “forthwith?”

Other concerned sectors, including members of the faculty of the UP College of Law are pressing the Senate to immediately proceed with the impeachment trial of the Vice President.  

Particularly addressing the circulation of a Senate resolution issued by Senator Ronald dela Rosa seeking the dismissal of the impeachment complaint against the VP Vice without a trial,  the UP College of Law faculty members said such dismissal of the case without hearing “even a single witness will mean the Senate’s abandonment of its proud tradition as an august chamber and permanently alter our system of checks and balances; it will also undermine the people’s trust in the Senate as an independent and impartial institution before which the highest officials of the land may prove their fealty to the principles of accountability (and) public service.”

“Let the truth unfold,” they urged the senators. “We wish to see the evidence, hear the Vice President’s defense” and, along with the Filipino people, judge her fitness to continue in public service.

A majority, or 68 percent of Filipinos said in a Social Weather Station survey conducted May 2 to 6 that they would like to see the VP  “address the impeachment charges, and answer allegations about corruption and clear her name.”

Twenty percent of respondents in the same survey commissioned by Stratbase also believed “she probably should,” and only seven percent thiought she should avoid the issue. The survey had 1,800 respondents and had a margin of error of plus/minus 2.31 percent.

Reacting to the SWS survey results, the VP, who was then at The Hague visiting her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte who is awaiting his own trial at the International Criminal Court for graves crime against humanity, said she “totally agrees.”

“I am part of that 88 percent; I am even thankful for the opportunity to clear my name and answer the allegations against me,” she said.