Senate remands Sara complaints to House

The Senate voted, 18-5, on Tuesday to remand the charges against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives, effectively putting on hold her impeachment trial on day one of the proceedings.

The move was suggested by Senator-judge Christopher “Bong” Go, a known ally of the Dutertes.

The vote was taken just hours after the Senate constituted itself as an impeachment court and promptly convened to look into the House’s complaints and move to unseat Duterte.

Out of 23 senator judges, 18, including Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who sat as the presiding officer, voted in favor of the motion to return the impeachment complaint to the lower house.

Only Senator-judges Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Risa Hontiveros, Win Gatchalian, Grace Poe, and Nancy Binay voted against the motion.

“I hope you can at least consider this. At the very least, before we proceed with the hearing, let’s first ensure that the proper process was followed,” Go said in Filipino.

“As I said, perhaps this can be returned or remanded to its origin in the House of Representatives, because there are still many legal questions that remain unanswered,” he added.

He continued: “It’s better to make sure that any case we hear has followed due process so we don’t waste our time.”

Go said that while he agrees that the impeachment trial of Duterte should not be delayed, it should also not be rushed.

“I agree that we shouldn’t delay this. Even Vice President Sara Duterte wants to face the case. But no one should want to rush it either,” he said.

Before this, Senator-judge Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, also a Duterte ally, made the motion to dismiss Duterte’s impeachment case “in view of constitutional infirmities and questions on the jurisdiction and authority of the 20th Congress.”

Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano backed Go’s push for the remanding of the impeachment complaint and amended Dela Rosa’s move to dismiss it, which the latter accepted.

A livid Senator-judge Pimentel III objected to Dela Rosa’s motion, stressing that both the prosecution and the defense should be heard first before deciding on the matter.

The Senate convened as an impeachment court a day earlier than its scheduled session on Wednesday, the last day in the legislative calendar of the 19th Congress.

After convening as an impeachment court, senator-judges took their oath in the impeachment trial, except Senators Imee Marcos, Cynthia Villar, and Robin Padilla. The three also did not don the purple robes of the impeachment judges.

Bato vs. Koko

Earlier, Pimentel and Dela Rosa clashed after the latter insisted that he should deliver his privilege speech first, before the scheduled oath-taking of the senators as senator-judges.

Senator Marcos, who aligned herself with the Dutertes, called for a point of order while Senator-judge Risa Hontiveros was delivering her manifestation on the earlier motion by Dela Rosa.

Senator Joel Villanueva also expressed his objection to the motion raised by Dela Rosa, citing Article XI, Section 3 (6) of the Constitution.

According to Villanueva, the Senate, in its capacity as a legislative body, “does not possess the constitutional authority to unilaterally dismiss an impeachment complaint.”

Escudero explained during the hearing that remanding the complaints does not translate to a dismissal of the charges against Duterte.

He has maintained that the impeachment trial of Duterte would commence in earnest in the 20th Congress, which is scheduled to open on July 28.

“I already said that in February. We will do it in the 20th Congress, since there’s no more time left. That’s not our fault; the House chose to file that in the last days—the final hours—of our last day, even though they knew there were only two weeks left,” he told reporters.

“The trial will commence when the 20th Congress resumes. I have not changed my position. I have not changed my statement regarding that,” he added.

He made the clarification after he took his oath as the presiding officer in Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday night, setting the motion in the impeachment case that languished in their chamber for four months.

Escudero said that while he is confident that the impeachment court would carry over to the 20th Congress, he also stressed that it is still up to the members of the said Congress to decide whether they would take up the impeachment case or not.

“The 19th Congress cannot bind subsequent congresses. The 19th House cannot bind the 20th House. The 19th Senate cannot bind the 20th Senate. This will be our decision, if at all,” he said.

“Now, if the 20th Senate decides that we don’t want it anymore—that this can no longer proceed—then that will be voted on by the 20th Senate,” he added.

He continued: “What if the House also says they don’t want it anymore—what are we supposed to do? Force the House? That’s not how it works.”

Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on 5 February 5, with 215 lawmakers—more than two-thirds of its members—voting in favor.

If convicted by the Senate, Duterte would be removed from office and barred from holding any future public position.

For Duterte to be convicted, the Senate, which will act as the impeachment court, must secure two-thirds of the votes—or at least 16 out of the 24 members.

Duterte has maintained the impeachment trial is part of the political persecution of her family, which has had a falling out with the Marcos family.

She and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ran and won under a unity ticket. For a while she served as Education secretary.