VP ouster complaint likened to stale rice

A senator has likened the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte to “raw and stale rice” and said that forcing the Senate to act on it would be absurd.

“Instead of serving one dish, they prepared four,” Senator Rodante Marcoleta said in Filipino on Saturday, referring to the multiple complaints filed.

Marcoleta was reacting to calls for the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial despite the Supreme Court ruling that junked the complaints against Duterte as unconstitutional.

“The complainants were fooling everyone. They filed four complaints. Three were dismissed, one was kept alive — but it’s spoiled and half-cooked. You can’t serve that,” he said.

The Supreme Court on Friday voted 13-0-2 to strike down the impeachment case, citing a violation of the one-year bar on multiple impeachment attempts, as well as breaches of due process.

Still, former president of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines Domingo Cayosa said the Senate could push through with the trial if it asserts its exclusive constitutional mandate.