A trial on trial
For context: The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity had 199 defendants. They were secured by 300 soldiers.
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For context: The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity had 199 defendants. They were secured by 300 soldiers.
The Marcos administration deployed 6,000 fully armed policemen to secure the Senate as it began the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
Six thousand. For one person.
For context: The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity had 199 defendants. They were secured by 300 soldiers.
That was 1945. This is 2026, with HD CCTVs, confidential funds in the billions, and yet the Commander-in-Chief thought one Vice President required an army.
VP Sara asked the question we in Mindanao are asking: Where were those 6,000 when an earthquake leveled communities?
What is there to fear?
The charges themselves invite skepticism. The House accuses her of unexplained wealth. The AMLC, under its new head, found no red flags. There is also the bribery allegation from former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Mercado who produced nine empty envelopes she claimed once held P50,000 in bribe money. Soon after her testimony, she was appointed Commissioner of the National Commission of Senior Citizens.
Then there’s the “threat” charge — VP Sara’s statement that if she were killed, the President and his kin would not survive. Hyperbole, plain and simple. Yet prosecutors argue it proves intent to have BBM killed to clear her path to the presidency. In this era of ghost flood control projects worth over a trillion, that logic feels thin.
The real agenda may have been stated out loud. Sen. Risa Hontiveros: “While Vice President Sara Duterte is in power, the threat of a full-blown Duterte comeback is still a very real and present danger.”
Fr. Robert Reyes: “The possibility of a climate of threats might return if Vice President Sara Duterte becomes President.”
Ronald Llamas: The Philippines will become “another North Korea” under a Sara presidency.
Translation: The goal is not just conviction. It is disqualification from the 2028 regular and presidential elections.
The process reflects that. The Senate leadership was changed. Senators perceived as unfriendly to conviction were sidelined. On the day the trial opened, Sen. Rodante Marcoleta — the first INC senator in history — was arrested for plunder over P75 million in undeclared private campaign donations. The Comelec had already cleared him of any election offense. Plunder is non-bailable. It effectively bars him from sitting as a senator-judge.
Earlier, Senators Chiz Escudero and Joel Villanueva left the Alan Cayetano-bloc majority amid separate issues.
So now the trial moves forward under a new Senate leadership aligned with the administration.
But 6,000 armed men for one trial?
In a country where “ghost” projects ran for years under our noses, that image will not inspire confidence. It will invite ridicule.
A trial should try the accused. What we have now is a trial that is itself on trial. And the public is watching.
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