Nothing has been heard from President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. yet regarding the impending impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said Sunday.
Asked in a radio interview if they had talked with Marcos about the Vice President’s forthcoming impeachment trial, Castro said, “Hindi po eh (No. Not yet).”
Castro said Marcos has maintained his position on the impeachment.
“Makailang beses po kaming nagkita ni Pangulo pero hindi po talaga niya nababanggit ‘yung impeachment sa amin. Ayun pa rin po, ‘pag tatanungin namin—let’s say tatanungin ‘yung impeachment tungkol dito sa calling for special session, ang lagi lang binabato sa amin, is ‘yun pa rin ang stance ng Pangulo. So wala pong pagbabago (We’ve met with the President several times, but he really hasn't mentioned the impeachment to us. It’s still the same when we ask him—let's say, about the impeachment or the calling for a special session—what is always thrown at us, is that it's still the President’s stance is still the same. So there’s no changes),” she said.
In November last year, Marcos confirmed the leaked messages he supposedly sent to the lawmakers in Congress preventing the possible filing of an impeachment case against the Vice President.
He said lodging an impeachment complaint against Duterte is “unimportant” in the “larger scheme of things” and would “tie down” both the House of Representatives and the Senate.
“This is not important. This does not make a difference to even one single Filipino life. So why waste time on it,” Marcos told reporters in his previous interview.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte, with 215 members endorsing the fourth complaint.
The lower house cited Duterte’s “betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes” as the grounds for impeachment.
The House Secretary-General transmitted the articles of impeachment against Duterte to the Office of the Senate Secretary on the afternoon of 5 February — the upper chamber’s last day of plenary session.
The Senate adjourned without endorsing the impeachment motion against Duterte.
Senate President Francis Escudero repeatedly said an impeachment trial cannot proceed during a break.
He said the earliest action by the 19th Congress to tackle the impeachment case is when the Senate resumes from break on 2 June.
Escudero also noted the need for President Marcos to call for a special session so the Senate can move forward with the impeachment trial of Duterte.
Castro, however, said Marcos is not keen to order a special session for the Senate to act on Duterte’s impeachment.
“It’s like, the way we see it, it would be an awkward position on the part of the President to voluntarily call for a special session, considering that there is this ongoing intrigue that the President is behind the impeachment proceedings,” she said.
Castro said it would be “better for the Senate to request the President, considering that even the President made this pronouncement that if the Senate will ask him to call for a special session, he will do so.”
But Escudero likewise maintained he is not keen on asking Marcos to convene a special session with Congress.
“No, I said that already because under the Constitution, I can only ask for that after consultation with the majority and minority floor leaders and with the consent of the Speaker of the House for urgent legislation,” he said.