Marcos sees VP trial crossing over to 20th Congress

MANILA, Philippines — President Marcos believes that the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will cross over to the 20th Congress, amid debates in the Senate over its fate once the 19th Congress adjourns sine die.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Marcos said the executive branch is watching what Senate President Francis Escudero is doing to come up with a peaceful transition to the next Congress, which is set to convene next month.

“Why? What is the controversy? It is very clear that it will,” the President said, referring to the trial’s continuation during the 20th Congress.

“Because there is no way that even if they start the trial now, that they will finish it before the new senators come in. So, well, again, the senators will decide,” he added.

In February, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte over her alleged failure to properly account for the confidential funds allocated to her offices and the supposed conspiracy to kill the President, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez, which she publicly declared in a livestream.

The Vice President, a former running mate-turned-arch critic of Marcos, was accused of violating the Constitution, graft and corruption and betraying public trust. She has denied any wrongdoing and has challenged the legality of the impeachment complaint against her before the Supreme Court.

The Senate postponed the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte from June 2 to today, the last day before the chamber adjourns sine die.

Justifying the deferment, Escudero cited the need to approve several priority bills, but some sectors claimed that the move was meant to stall the process and to protect Duterte.

Senators have been debating whether the Vice President’s impeachment trial could be carried over to the next Congress. According to Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, the Senate cannot carry unfinished proceedings into the 20th Congress.

However, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III argued that the chamber’s impeachment rules back the position that the trial shall continue until final judgment, even if it is necessary to continue into the next Congress.

Tolentino has proposed that Duterte’s impeachment trial be finished in 19 days to avoid the “unresolved and constitutionally precarious implications of allowing such proceedings to extend to the next Congress.”

The people are expecting the senators to be faithful to the Constitution and one way of proving this is to immediately begin Duterte’s impeachment trial, House spokesperson Princess Abante said yesterday. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Bella Cariaso, EJ Macababbad