“What will happen starting June 2 when Escudero formally convenes the Senate into a court?”
My column last Thursday, Feb. 6, was filed Tuesday morning, as I had a series of business meetings on Wednesday, the deadline for submission. Frankly, I did not foresee that moves were being hatched and denouement would happen so soon.
Of course there were ominous signs. The HoR secretary-general kept sitting on the three impeachment complaints filed in his office, and kept saying he was waiting for a fourth one whose endorsers were still collecting the mandatory 103 co-endorsers, so that they could send it to the Senate posthaste.
Clearly, the HoR was awaiting a go-signal since the President had made previous statements he was not in favor of impeaching his vice.
That signal came late on Monday so the first signatures were collected on Tuesday, followed by a caucus on Wednesday where, allegedly, promises of bounty in AKAP, AICS and identify-it DPWH projects were made.
No wonder, as the president himself stated much later, some wanted to yet sign beyond the 215 signatories sent to the Senate. As we write this, more than 20 representatives made “habol,” giving credence to accusations that “inducements” were made. Dagdag ayuda for the signatories.
It is difficult, whatever the denials and reasons, to not see Malacanang’s imprimatur especially with the first son as the first to sign.
Senate President Chiz stated on Thursday he would take cognizance of the complaint only on June 2, as Congress was already on recess. He further stressed that a “special session” called by the President is meant for urgent legislation that needs to be passed, not for an impeachment trial.
A leading senatorial candidate told this writer last Thursday the President would not likely call for a special session to tackle the impeachment complaint, as it would expose his hand, yet the President on Friday stressed that while impeachment was the sole business of the legislature, he was open to calling for a special session.
As President Joseph Estrada’s political secretary then, I recall how the impeachment complaint filed in the HoR first went through the Committee on Rules, assigned to the Committee on Justice, which held several acrimonious hearings, until Speaker Manny Villar decided to turn the opening prayer into transmission to the Senate.
The incident happened on Nov. 8, 2000, and it took the Senate more than three weeks to convene the trial, after setting the rules along with the Chief Justice as presiding officer, and having their custom-made scarlet robes tailored.
This time around, the HoR secretary-general received the first impeachment complaint on Dec. 2 last year, followed by another two days or so later. Then another the following week. But he did not transmit any of the complaints to the Speaker, clearly freezing the ball.
He even had the gall to say that endorsing the first impeachment complaints through the regular procedure would take time, given the few remaining weeks in the calendar of Congress prior to the election campaign.
I recall having told President Estrada on Nov. 2 that Speaker Villar was meeting with several congressmen and would gather the signatures of a third of the membership to impeach him.
He was in disbelief, but it happened. The Senate convened as a court on Dec.7, with Chief Justice Hilario Davide presiding, and Nene Pimentel was the Senate President.
Pimentel, upon the recommendation of the 11 senators who had earlier promised not to convict Erap, replaced Franklin Drilon in a decision made at Erap’s Greenhills home.
The trial kept the entire nation hooked on their TV sets throughout the holiday season and the first three weeks of Jan. 2001, until the prosecutors walked out after being defeated on a vote whether or not to open a second envelope which supposedly contained documents pertaining to the Jose Velarde account, ostensibly belonging to Erap where his cronies deposited sums of money under fictitious names.
Thus did Edsa Dos begin, and within the next few days, the duly elected president was ousted through a “mob” blessed by Cardinal Sin and given judicial cover by the Supreme Court.
What will happen starting June 2 when Escudero formally convenes the Senate into a court?
Or if the President calls for a special session, unseemly though it be, in response to the clamor of the HoR and the Duterte detractors, how would the “independent” Senate act?
Or would the Supreme Court be asked to interpret the Constitutional conundrum?
Whatever, we are into troubled and troubling times, and the economy, already morose as it is, will further worsen.
But our politicians could not care less, their mission being “off with her head.”
