House prosecutor: Senate stalling oath of senator-judges

The Senate impeachment court’s alleged reluctance to swear in the 12 new senator-judges until the 20th Congress officially convenes in late July is another strategy aimed at further delaying Vice President Sara Duterte’s trial, a House prosecutor asserted Thursday.

San Juan Rep. Ysabel Zamora argues that the new batch of senator-judges could already take their oath now before Senate President Chiz Escudero because the opening of a new Congress does not remove him as presiding officer of the impeachment court.

“If they [decide to replace him], that will definitely happen. But, in the meantime, he is still the Senate President, and the Senate is a continuing body, especially in this matter,” Zamora explained in an interview.

The House prosecutor’s remarks followed the statement of Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol that the 12 new senators, who replaced half of the senator-judges sworn in during the 19th Congress, could only take their oath if a new Senate chief is installed.

Traditionally, the voting for leaders of Congress, the House Speaker and the Senate President, is held during the formal opening of every new Congress, hours before the President delivers the State of the Nation Address.

The 20th Congress will officially convene on 28 July, but Tongol said the 12 new senators cannot be sworn in as judges on the same day, with the earliest possible date likely the following day.

Zamora, however, acknowledged concerns that the Senate may deliberately delay the voting for the new Senate chief to stall the oath-taking of the 12 new senators who will sit as judges.

“It’s another way of delaying the proceedings. We started with Senate President Chiz Escudero there. In fact, the news is that they are assured of the Senate Presidency of Senator Chiz Escudero,” she argued, citing reports that Escudero is poised to keep the chamber’s top post with the supposed support of the majority.

The names of returning seasoned Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Senator Imee Marcos have continued to emerge as potential contenders in the race for the Senate presidency.

But Escudero’s allies have expressed confidence that they already have the numbers to keep him as their leader in the present Congress.

Nevertheless, Zamora said this should not become another cause for delaying the impeachment trial.

“We have seen that there was indeed a delay; we just don't know what the intent was—if there was malice behind the delay,” she stressed. “We had the preview of the evidence in the Blue Ribbon hearings, and a lot of it was released and laid out. I think the people are anxious to see what these pieces of evidence are.”

Zamora emphasized that as officers of the impeachment court, the prosecution team will maintain decorum with the senator-judges, though she pointed out that they could not just ignore the “unusual” nature of their orders.

She was referring to the conditions set by the Senate impeachment court in order to proceed with the trial, such as the certification that the House did not violate the one-year bar rule and a manifestation that they are still willing to pursue the impeachment case in the 20th Congress.

Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendaña, the original endorser of the first impeachment complaint, also castigated the Senate for “sending mixed signals” and “repeatedly insinuating” to dismiss the complaint.

"The Senate has so many requirements just to do their job, yet their mandate is simple: convene themselves as an impeachment court, hold a trial, and make a decision,” he said in Filipino in a separate interview.

Duterte’s lawyers have argued that the impeachment complaint must be dismissed, calling it void ab initio (from the beginning) because the House violated Section 3 (5) of Article XI of the Constitution, which prohibits the initiation of more than one impeachment against the same official within a period of one year.

The House prosecution panel countered that the one-year bar rule “was never circumvented” because the initiation only happened when the fourth impeachment complaint was verified and signed by at least 215 members of the entire House.

The figure was more than double the one-third vote, or 102 signatories, required for an impeachment complaint to bypass committee hearings and be sent directly to the Senate for trial.

The impeachment complaint sent to the Senate on 5 February, shortly after the House impeached Duterte, was the fourth petition filed against her in a span of only two months.

Duterte was the first second-highest official impeached by the House on grounds of graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution and other high crimes. The House filed seven articles of impeachment against her.

She is set to face trial after the 20th Congress formally convenes.