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GMA Network
03-06-2025
- Politics
- GMA Network
Opposition to Senators: Are you protecting VP Sara or the public interest?
Are the Senators protecting the Vice President Sara Duterte instead of the public interest? Opposition lawmakers and impeachment complainants from the Makabayan coalition asked this question on Tuesday in response to Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero's statement that the convening of the Senate impeachment court for the trial of impeached Vice President Duterte depends on the plenary vote of the senators, even though the Constitution states that a Senate impeachment trial 'shall forthwith proceed' once a verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the members of the House. 'To the Senate as an institution, malinaw naman iyong mandato nila mula sa Constitution na talagang wala silang choice kundi gampanan iyong kanilang tungkulin na mag proceed roon sa impeachment trial. Habang hindi nila ginagawa iyong kanilang tungkulin, naproproteksiyonan rito iyong may kasalanan sa taumbayan: si Vice President Sara Duterte,' House Deputy Minority Leader France Castro said in a press conference. (The Senate has a clear mandate in the Constitution: they are required to proceed with the impeachment trial. While they are neglecting their duty, they are protecting someone who wronged the people: Vice President Sara Duterte.) 'Kaya kailangan ituloy 'yun [impeachment]. Kaya hinahamon po yung mga senador. Lalong lalo na 'yung mga nananalo diyan. Talagang patunayan ninyo na gagawin ninyo 'yung inyong obligasyon sa taong bayan,' she added. (That is why we need to proceed with the impeachment trial. I challenge the senators, especially those who won in the 2025 elections. Prove to us that you will act according to your mandate given by those who voted for you.) Kabataan party-list Representative Raoul Manuel agreed, saying that turning a blind eye to the Vice President's apparent questionable disbursement of P612 million in confidential funds is tantamount to committing corruption. 'Okay lang ba sa ibang makapangyarihan na iba-iba ang standards pagdating sa pagpapanagot ng mga kurakot kasi pare-pareho lang rin pala sila na mga kurakot na pinoprotektahan ang isa't isa? 'Yan ang tanong natin. Para sa mga senador na humaharang sa impeachment trial, maliit na bagay lang ba ang P612.5 million na confidential funds?' Manuel said. (Is it okay for some of these powerful public officials that the ways of exacting accountability vary because they are all corrupt just the same? That is our question. To those senators blocking the impeachment trial, is P612.5 million a pittance to you?) 'Nasanay na ba sila sa korapsyon? Kaya parang wala lang sa kanila ang maraming lumabas na ebidensiya ng paglustay ng impeached Vice President sa pera ng bayan? Habang pinoprotektahan nila ang kakayahan ng isa't isa na gamitin ang pera ng bayan para sa sariling interes, lalong na pag-iiwanan ang taong bayan. Kaya ang panawagan po natin, no more delays, no more dribbling. Start the impeachment trial now,' Manuel, one of the over 250 lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint against the Vice President alongside Castro, said. (Have they become so used to corruption that is nothing to them that so much evidence has emerged of the Vice President misusing the nation's money? While they are protecting each other's ability to use public money for their own interests, the Filipino people are more and more left behind.) Escudero said that the Senate plenary vote is supreme, but prior to this, he had said that the Senate impeachment court could not be convened because the House impeached the Vice President on February 5 which is the last session day before Congress adjourned to give way for the campaign period for the May 12 midterm polls. Over 200 congressmen endorsed the impeachment campaign against the Vice President who is accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes mainly over alleged misuse of around P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos, Jr., his wife Liza and SpeakerMartin Romualdez. 'Solemn duty' In a separate statement, Akbayan party-list Representative Perci Cendaña asked the Senate President if he was afraid of the Vice President to begin with due to the delays. "Natatakot ba siya kay Sara Duterte? Hindi po ito Paris Fashion Week. Convening the Senate as an impeachment court is a solemn constitutional duty, not a seasonal accessory you put on or discard depending on the political weather, or one's personal agenda,' Cendaña said. (Is he afraid of Vice President Duterte? This is not Paris Fashion Week.) 'It is a uniform of duty worn whenever the Constitution demands it,' he added. Bayan president Renato Reyes, for his part, said the Senators should think long and hard because being silent on accountability will eventually catch up on them. Reyes referenced the 2001 impeachment trial of then-President Joseph Estrada, which was upended due to the lack of senator-judges' votes for the opening of the second envelope that would supposedly show strong evidence of Estrada's involvement in corruption. Since the second envelope was not opened, throngs of people packed EDSA, calling for Estrada's resignation, if not conviction before the Senate impeachment court. The days-long protests were followed by the military and police to withdraw support to Estrada, prompting him to leave Malacañang. Then Vice President Gloria Arroyo was installed as President. 'We are confident in the evidence that the prosecutors will present. We are confident that if we are able to present the evidence, maiintindihan ito at susuportahan ito ng taong bayan at kikilos ang taong bayan para hilingin ang pananagutan [the Filipino people will understand and support and they will move to seek accountability]. We did not have the numbers to open the second envelope in 2001, but it triggered something more important: it triggered people power,' Reyes said. Estrada was eventually detained for six years and convicted of plunder by the Sandiganbayan in 2007. Arroyo pardoned him in October 2007 or six weeks after his conviction. GMA News Online has reached out to the Senate for comment. — BM, GMA Integrated News
The Star
01-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte agrees with poll: She should be tried
MANILA: Vice President Sara Duterte (pic) said she agreed with an overwhelming majority of Filipinos that she should be tried by an impeachment court for corruption and other high crimes, but she has not withdrawn her petition in the Supreme Court questioning her impeachment. 'Oh, I totally agree,' she said of the results of a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) poll that she should be tried by the Senate after she was impeached by the House of Representatives on Feb. 5. 'I'm among those 88 per cent who say that,' she told reporters and supporters on Friday (May 30) outside the International Criminal Court detention center in The Hague, the Netherlands, where her father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, is being held. Her office provided the media in the Philippines with a copy of the video interview with her. 'I'm thankful for the opportunity to clear my name and answer the accusations against me,' Duterte said. The impeachment complaint accuses her of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust for, among others, her alleged misuse of more than P612 million (US$110 million) in confidential funds and for her alleged threat to assassinate President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez. She spoke in The Hague on May 30, on the eve of her 47th birthday, which she planned to celebrate with her father and their supporters. The former president is accused of murder as a crime against humanity for the thousands killed in his brutal antinarcotics campaign that he implemented as mayor of Davao City and later as president. The May 2025 SWS survey on 'people's post-election expectations' released on Thursday, showed that 68 percent of the 1,800 respondents nationwide said that the Vice President 'definitely should address the impeachment charges, answer all allegations pertaining to corruption and clear her name.' It showed that 20 per cent said that she 'probably should' do the same. Only four per cent said that Duterte 'probably should not' and three per cent said she 'definitely should not,' results of the survey showed. Four per cent were unsure what to say. The poll also saw a consensus that Duterte should focus more on her work as Vice President and minimise any politically driven activities. Asked to comment on the deferment of the start of the impeachment trial to June 11 instead of June 2, when the Congress resumes session, Duterte said she saw no impact of the delay on her case, but would leave it to her lawyers to study the developments further. Also in the Netherlands was Sen. Imee Marcos, the eldest sister of President Marcos. Duterte had a bitter falling out with Marcos, unraveling their formidable UniTeam that swept the 2022 national elections. Marcos said on his inaugural BBM Podcast that he was willing to reconcile with the Dutertes because he needed more friends than enemies. 'I probably won't talk about reconciliation because people's personal problems aren't important. What's more important is our people and our country,' Duterte said in response to his remarks. She said the President's sister, whose reelection she supported in the recent midterm polls, was in The Hague to speak with her father's lawyer, Nicholas Kaufman. 'Whatever it is they talked about, I have nothing to do with it anymore,' she said. The Vice President and her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman Duterte, were able to see her father for a 'prebirthday' celebration. A 'send Duterte home' rally is scheduled to take place outside the detention center on her birthday on Saturday. She earlier said she was eager to see the trial through because she wanted a 'bloodbath.' She did not elaborate on what she meant. While Duterte committed to face the charges against her in the impeachment court, she did not say anything about the petition she filed on Feb. 18 in the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the impeachment process. Duterte accused the House of Representatives and its secretary general, Reginald Velasco, of withholding the first three complaints against her allegedly to circumvent the one-year ban on the filing of more than one complaint against an impeachable official. She said that the House only acted on the fourth complaint, which was signed by 215 of around 300 members of the chamber. The fourth petition, however, contained essentially the same charges against her in the three others. 'This political stratagem was done at the expense of constitutional standards … with the ultimate goal of having the petitioner perpetually disqualified from running for any national elective office,' she said in her petition. Duterte is a probable contender in the May 2028 presidential election. Another petition was filed just hours after her own petition by several of her supporters. They asked the Supreme Court to stop the Senate from convening into an impeachment court. Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. said then that Duterte and the other petitioners were 'running scared … perhaps the allegations of corruption are true.' Deputy Speaker David Suarez of Quezon said Duterte's move 'reeks of panic and a blatant effort to undermine the impeachment process even before it formally begins.' ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro criticised Duterte for flying to the Netherlands to celebrate 'with more lies and political theatrics' instead of reflecting on her actions ahead of her impeachment trial. 'The Filipino people deserve transparency, not squid tactics,' Castro said. 'On her birthday, we challenge VP Duterte to choose truth over deception, accountability over evasion. The impeachment process is constitutional and legitimate—she should respect it instead of undermining it with her desperate antics,' the lawmaker said. Other ACT leaders slammed the fresh delay in the start of the impeachment trial, which they called a 'calculated scheme' to quash the proceedings altogether. ACT Representative-elect Antonio Tinio said the delay signals an attempt to 'kill the impeachment trial through procedural maneuvering rather than addressing the serious charges on their merits.' He said that the 'delaying tactics make a mockery of our democratic institutions and constitutional processes.' 'If impeachment proceedings can be killed through procedural technicalities and political alignments, then no high official will ever be held accountable for corruption and abuse of power,' Tinio said. He was particularly concerned about how the delay strategy 'was seemingly being orchestrated across party lines,' noting that Marcos himself again publicly expressed his opposition to the trial. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
