Tito Sotto on Senate Voting To Archive Sara Duterte’s Impeachment Case: “May God have mercy on your decision”

Motion of Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto Loses vs. Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s

TITO SOTTO – The Senate Minority Leader spoke on the Senate voting to archive the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The Senate discussed the Supreme Court ruling over the impeachment case against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte during a session yesterday. The Supreme Court declared the Articles of Impeachment against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte as “unconstitutional” as it does not follow the one-year rule in the Constitution.

Several senators have made their stand on the issue. Known Duterte-ally Sen. Rodante Marcoleta filed a motion to dismiss the impeachment rap against the Vice President. It was countered by Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto who wanted to table the motion citing that there was a motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives before the Supreme Court.

According to Sotto, there is a need to wait for the final ruling of the Supreme Court. He claimed that the high court allegedly made “clear and blatant errors” in its decision after saying that the 19th Congress adjourned sine die in the 5th of February.

Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto also stressed that the initiation of the fourth impeachment complaint against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte came after the first three (3) complaints were archived by the House. According to him, “the one-year ban did not set in”.

Sotto also claimed that the Supreme Court did not interpret but allegedly amended the Constitution with its ruling. He stressed that all that there’s need to do is to “wait a little”. He admitted that he is voting in the minority but stressed that he knows his vote is right.

However, based on a report on ABS-CBN News, only five (5) senators voted “yes” to the motion of Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto to table the motion to dismiss of Sen. Rodante Marcoleta. Afterwards, the Senate moved to vote on the amended motion of Marcoleta to archive the impeachment case instead of dismissing it.

Based on the report, 19 senators voted in favor of archiving the impeachment case of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, four (4) senators said “No”, and one (1) senator, Sen. Ping Lacson, abstained from voting.

The House of Representatives previously urged the Senate to wait for their appeal to the Supreme Court saying the decision was “not yet final”. According to Philippine Constitution Association Foundation Inc. (PhilConSa) led by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, the Supreme Court allegedly ‘gifted itself new power’ on its ruling over Duterte’s impeachment case.