“The Senate has to finish the impeachment trial”
THIS impeachment trial has been a waste.
When Senate President Chiz Escudero deferred the date of convening the chamber as an impeachment court to June 11, many who longed to see Sara in the hands of an impartial trial were furious. Their rage has been directed towards the delay, given that the House has transmitted the verified complaint in February. Escudero blamed the House for the long and wide timeframe. I surmised he saw Congress’ lengthy period of inaction to the other three complaints. But, no, he accused it of being ‘subservient’ to House Speaker Romualdez — the last to sign the fourth impeachment complaint.
I thought the people made it clear at the onset, before the elections and even until today — Sara Duterte has to be tried in the Senate.
Monday came. That morning’s skin-wrenching weather did not stop impeachment complainants from holding their protest across the Senate building in Pasay City. The groups present, including Mamamayang Liberal and Akbayan, occupied the MoA-bound lane of the Diokno Boulevard in reminding the Senate of its Constitutional duty. It did not take long for them to be noticed by Escudero, who dismissed their cries for a trial.
The Duterte camp was still anxious about the probability of having her seated in the Senate trial. Robin “Mr. Wonderful” Padilla was in his zesty energy to say he planned to file a resolution which would dismiss the impeachment trial. After all, he was taking advantage of the poor’s cluelessness in his defense, support, and appraisal of his savior, the old man in The Hague.
But a brave step was made later in the day: the Senate minority plotted to immediately convene the Senate as an impeachment court to allow the Vice President’s House case to be heard finally. Pimentel detailed seven motions, equal in anxiety, that would do such an act to the Senate floor. Risa Hontiveros seconded the motion. Of course, there is no more appropriate time to have this conducted, not even when the 20th Congress finally starts convening.
Suddenly, Digong’s luminaries began to stand up and made various attempts to kill the impeachment trial on the floor. Dela Rosa, in particular, made impassioned speeches using his perceived legal bases to persuade the complaint is “Constitutionally flawed.” He had to do so with all his might to convince the public that Sara, for all her grave faults and sins, remains innocent. They didn’t want to lose the Duterte influence, which she largely holds.
And while they may have convened themselves as an impeachment court, it did not stop the Senate from asking the Lower House to review the details of the complaint. They wanted them to prove the fourth complaint has not been met with a one-year ban. The lengthy debates and compromises by Senator Alan Cayetano, which would interestingly allow the trial to proceed, gave the Duterte camp the benefit.
The trial has been long overdue. It has been far too long for that process to be conducted and heard; the Duterte camp – Bato dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, “Mr. Wonderful” — only worsened that great delay. Will this long saga be extended until Sara Duterte be deemed innocent via technicality?
The House has to be blamed, yes. For not acting on the first three complaints. Chiz Escudero has to be blamed for sure, he was procrastinating on them while he had the time and power to do so. But the Senate majority has to be rebuked greatly for not hearing the demand of accountability from Sara Duterte’s cases.
These being said, the Senate has to finish the impeachment trial. Otherwise, Sara Duterte will turn herself in with unrepentant shame as the first vice president to be barred from public office. And that is what the DDS prays to avoid — justice over Sara’s corruption.
(The author tries to cure his haywire from his personal grind as he writes essays away from the news. For comments, you may reach him at ngrolando2003@yahoo.com.)
