Senator-elect Panfilo “Ping” Lacson on Tuesday categorically denied the rumored meeting between another senator-elect, Vice President Sara Duterte, and himself.
Lacson, who ran under the Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., described the rumor as “absolutely false and outright malicious.”
“[A]s an elected senator who is a potential senator-judge in the impeachment trial involving the Vice President should the said trial cross over to the 20th Congress, it is the height of impropriety to meet with her, being a respondent in the said impeachment case already transmitted to the Senate,” he said in a statement.
Under normal circumstances, Lacson said he sees nothing wrong if newly elected senators or congressmen pay a courtesy call on the second highest official — which he admittedly did with former vice president Leni Robredo in 2016.
Those who made it to the so-called Magic 12, including the non-re-electionist senators, will not only serve as legislators but also sit as senator-judges in the anticipated impeachment trial of Duterte in the 20th Congress.
Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on 5 February, with a total of 215 lawmakers — or more than two-thirds of the members — supporting the motion.
Her conviction, which would remove her from office and bar her from holding future public positions, is currently pending in the Senate.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero announced earlier that the upper chamber would convene the impeachment court on 30 July despite clamors to act on the impeachment complaints.
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 current 23 senators.
Among the seven articles of the impeachment case against Duterte was the threat she made against the first couple and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Also listed as part of the seven articles of impeachment against Duterte was the alleged misused and malversation of confidential funds appropriated to the Office of the Vice President, and the Department of Education, which she led for more than two years.