Both the Senate and the House of Representatives hired their own respective spokespersons recently to engage media and the general public in discussions related to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The House prosecution panel introduced on Tuesday lawyer Antonio ‘Audie’ Bucoy as its new spokesman, while the Senate tapped Reginald ‘Regie’ Tongol—also a lawyer and political communicator—as the official spokesperson for the Impeachment Court.
In his first press conference, Bucoy called on Filipinos to stay updated on how the impeachment trial will unfold in the coming days. He said the process is both an issue of political and ‘moral accountability.’
“It is not only the Vice President who is on trial. The Senate as an institution is also on trial as an impeachment court. The entire nation is also on trial and has to keep its eyes open, participate in the process, so its doubts and questions can be answered,” Bucoy said.
Tongol, meanwhile, already gave several media interviews and provided some updates related to the trial. He commented on the issue of whether senator-judges can exhibit themselves from participating in the trial due to perceived biases.
In an interview over radio DZMM, Tongol explained there are two ways a senator-judge can inhibit from the trial—either through “voluntary disqualification” or “mandatory inhibition,” based on the established Rules of Court, which were patterned after that of the Supreme Court.
