SENATOR Risa Hontiveros said that she will formally move during Monday’s plenary session to commence the opening rites in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, “to fulfill the Senate’s duty to the Constitution and the people.”
“Hindi naman mahirap at matagal ang panunumpa at pagbabasa ng Articles of Impeachment, diba? Gawa na ang robes, at ready na ang session hall. Hindi iyan aabutin ng isang oras, kaya bakit natin iiwasan ang napakasimpleng opening ng impeachment trial?” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said that alongside Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, she will move to allow Senate President Francis Escudero to take his oath as the presiding officer of the impeachment court, and to administer the prescribed oath to all members of the Senate as judges of the impeachment court.
They will also move for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court, and for the Articles of Impeachment – received from the House of Representatives back in February – to be formally presented to the body. Under the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, the above rites must be made before the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, could proceed with considering the articles of impeachment against the official on trial.
“All of these formalities are neither complicated nor time consuming. Opening pa lang iyan. Let’s not pretend an hour is too much to ask, when we have three full days of session left, which can last to nearly midnight as they have in recent days,” Hontiveros said.
According to Hontiveros, the Senate must not be “heedless and callous” to growing calls for the institution to fulfill its mandate and begin the impeachment trial, made by persons and organizations including religious formations, lawyers’ groups such as the Philippine Bar Association, law schools, universities and educational entities, and constitutional framers such as former Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, Rene Sarmiento and Christian Monsod.
“Maduduwag ba tayo sa simpleng pagbukas lang ng isang impeachment trial? Magbubulag-bulagan ba tayo sa malinaw na utos ng Konstitusyon at magbibingi-bingihan sa panawagan ng taumbayan? Sana hindi,” she said.
“Hindi dapat tayo ang maging unang Senado na bumalewala sa Konstitusyon at sa panawagan ng taumbayan, para lang makaiwas sa proseso ng impeachment. Our people would be severely disappointed in us. History would judge us even more harshly. Hindi ako papayag na ang mismong Senado pa, under this 19th Congress, ang susuway sa Saligang Batas,” Hontiveros concluded.
