Reelected Senator Imee Marcos said that the bid to remove Vice President Sara Duterte via impeachment has already failed, amid the postponement of proceedings in the Senate.
The reading at the Senate of the articles of impeachment by the House of Representatives prosecution panel against Duterte was initially scheduled for June 2, but was moved to June 11 with the 19th Congress set to adjourn sine die on June 14, with Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero citing the need to prioritize the passage of items in the administration’s legislative agenda.
“Para sa akin, ‘yan ang importante, makatulong sa tao at tigilan na ang pangunguna ng pampulitikang impeachment na ‘yan,” Marcos said in Mav Gonzales’s report on GMA’s “24 Oras Weekend” on Sunday.
“Pero sa kabilang banda…bakit inuurong nang inuurong ‘yung impeachment?…Tanggapin niyo na, talo na ang impeachment. ‘Yun lang ‘yun. Kahit ngayon, kahit sa Hulyo pa, talo na,” she added.
(For me, that is what is important, to help people and stop prioritizing this political impeachment. On the other hand, why is the impeachment being moved again and again? Just accept that the impeachment has lost. That is it. Whether now or in July, it has already lost.)
Another Duterte ally, incoming Senator Rodante Marcoleta also said that the trial will not succeed in unseating her.
“Lintik lang ang walang ganti. Humanda sila. Ayaw niyong tumigil, kurbahan natin,” he said in the same report.
“They would not be able to remove the Vice President. Itaga mo sa bato ‘yan, itaga niyo sa bato ‘yan, walang mangyayari. The Vice President will stay as Vice President,” he added.
(There will be revenge. The should prepare themselves. If you don’t want to stop, let us curve them. They would not be able to remove the Vice President. Set that in stone, nothing will happen. The Vice President will stay as Vice President.)
Marcos and Marcoleta will both be senator-judges at the impeachment trial.
‘Forthwith’
For his part, outgoing Senate Minority leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said he is dismayed with the change in the Senate calendar.
“Nung February 2025, nagpalabas na ng impeachment calendar si SP [Senate President]. Diba dinebate natin dati ‘yun na ‘forthwith.’ Dapat nga hindi mo na hinintay ang June 2 pero siya na ang nasunod kasi lumipas na ang panahon,” he said.
(In February, SP already released a calendar. We also debated the term ‘forthwith.’ He should not have waited for June 2 but he was followed as time passed.)
For his part, attorney and constitutional law expert Domingo Cayosa said it seems as though Senate is dribbling the impeachment.
“Even if you look at the rules of the Senate itself, malinaw naman na kapag may [it is clear that if there is an] impeachment, it takes precedence over the ordinary legislative work,” he said.
“It’s not fair to the accused, it’s not fair to the prosecutors, it is not fair to the Filipino people,” he added.
GMA Integrated News has reached out to Escudero for comment on the matter, but he said he will release a statement on Monday, June 2.
According to House Assistant Majority Leader and Tingog party-list Representative Jude Acidre, he is optimistic that the impeachment trial will still push through, if not in 19th Congress then in the 20th, as seen in the United States where the impeachment trial process of the Philippines has pas been patterned.
“Pinakilala dun si President Bill Clinton. Na-impeach sa isang Kongreso at nagkaroon ng trial sa kabilang Kongreso. Gusto ko na lang panghawakan ‘yung sinabi ni Senator Jinggoy Estrada na gagampanan ng Senado ang kanilang Constitutional duty na talakayin ang impeachment,” he said in a separate report by Jonathan Andal.
(Most known is that of President Bill Clinton. He was impeached in one Congress and the trial was held in another. I trust what Senator Jinggoy Estrada said that the Senate will perform its Constitutional duty to take up the impeachment.)
Acidre also called Duterte’s remarks—likening her impeachment trial to a crucifixion—as drama.
“Hindi kailangan ng drama dito [There is no drama needed here]. We don’t even have to resort to language such as that,” he said.
“Kung naniniwala ang ating Bise Presidente at ang kaniyang mga kakampi na wala silang kasalanan, na wala silang pananagutan, harapin nila [If the Vice President and her allies believe that they are innocent, if they do not have liabilities, they should face it],” he added.
Hearings earlier revealed that the OVP and the Department of Education (DepEd), also previously headed by Duterte, submitted documents with wrong dates, signatures without names of signatories, and unreadable names of signatories to justify the disbursement of its confidential funds in 2022 and 2023.
A House panel in December found that there was no PSA record of “Mary Grace Piattos,” whose signature appeared the most in acknowledgement receipts for confidential funds of office under Vice President Sara Duterte. The House panel earlier offered a P1-million reward for any information on the individual.
Duterte, for her part, earlier said she has not seen the acknowledgement receipts from confidential funds supposedly signed by “Mary Grace Piattos.”
Another article of impeachment against Duterte is her stating that she had contracted a killer to assassinate erstwhile ally President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. if she is killed. — Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/BM, GMA Integrated News
