Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Speaks on Call To Inhibit Senator-Judges Who Already Take Sides prior Trial
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President is not in favor of the inhibition of ‘bias’ senator-judges in the impeachment trial as she called on the people to trust all the senators.
The articles of impeachment against Vice Pres. Duterte was returned by the Senate to the House of Representatives. The decision was made after 18 senators supported the motion with only five (5) of the lawmakers in the upper chamber opposing it.
Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero clarified that the remand of Duterte’s impeachment to the House does not mean dismissal of the case. According to the Senate President who is the presiding officer of the impeachment court in the trial, it is a chance for the House prosecution to answer questions before the impeachment court decides on the matter.
The Senate questioned the constitutionality of the impeachment of the Vice President and also required a reconfirmation from the 20th Congress on its willingness to take the matter in. A House member previously stressed that the 20th Congress is not even existing yet and raised a question on how they can comply with the requirement.
Only Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel and senators Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Sherwin Gatchalian opposed the motion to remand the articles of impeachment against Duterte to the House. The following senator-judges voted for the return of the articles of impeachment:
- Alan Peter Cayetano
- Pia Cayetano
- Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa
- JV Ejercito
- Chiz Escudero
- Jinggoy Estrada
- Bong Go
- Lito Lapid
- Loren Legarda
- Imee Marcos
- Robin Padilla
- Bong Revilla
- Francis Tolentino
- Raffy Tulfo
- Joel Villanueva
- Cynthia Villar
- Mark Villar
- Juan Miguel Zubiri
Even prior to the opening of the impeachment trial, there were already calls for some senators who are allegedly partial in dealing with the matter to inhibit from the trial. The calls were triggered after senators Bato dela Rosa, Francis Tolentino, and Robin Padilla want the impeachment case against the Vice President dismissed.
Sen. Robin Padilla also previously claimed that even if he will be burnt, he will smell like former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte. The actor-turned-Senator also recently flew to Malaysia with Sen. Imee Marcos and Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.
The House recently confirmed the possibility of seeking the inhibition of ‘bias’ senator-judges in Duterte’s impeachment trial. Recently, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte expressed her side on the possibility of excluding senator-judges who allegedly have taken a side already even before the trial.
Based on a report on PhilStar, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte expressed her belief that many senator judges would be inhibited from the impeachment trial if it would be pushed through. She believes that the senators must be given the benefit of the doubt.
“Maybe we should give the benefit of the doubt to all the senators when it comes to their work, as faithful senator-judges, because if they would seek the disqualification, the inhibition of senators for being biased, then there would be many senators who should inhibit,” she told News5.
Based on the report, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte mentioned Senators Risa Hontiveros and Koko Pimentel, two (2) of those who consistently called for the trial to start, as well as Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero who is being criticized over the delay of the trial. She called for trust on the senator-judges.
“So if we would use this as a basis, many would have to inhibit. What we should do is to trust all of them, that they will do what is true as senator-judges,” Duterte said.
Previously, former Senate Pres. Tito Sotto advised the senators to study the impeachment rules as he asserted that senator-judges should not introduce motions for the essence of fairness.