Sen. Robin Padilla Speaks on VP Sara Duterte’s Impeachment Trial
ROBIN PADILLA – The minority Senator admitted that he is against Sen. Chiz Escudero as presiding officer of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Previously, following the latest change in the Senate leadership, Sen. Ping Lacson claimed that Sen. Chiz Escudero is allegedly eyed as the presiding officer for the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. According to Lacson, it is because of Escudero’s being a lawyer and his experience in previous impeachments.
Sen. Chiz Escudero was the senator who made the June 3 plenary session in the Senate possible amid the 3-day absence of the then-majority bloc where he was previously part of. Then-Senate Pres. Alan Peter Cayetano and his fellow members in the majority bloc avoided the sessions to keep the chairmanships.
Escudero arrived at the Senate plenary session which led to a quorum of 12 senators to resume the session. The senators voted to declare all positions in the Senate vacant and they elected Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as the Senate President Pro Tempore.
Following a Senate leadership feud with former Senate Pres. Alan Peter Cayetano who claimed that he’s the legal and moral Senate chief even after the June 3 Senate plenary session, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian was officially elected by 13 senators as Senate president after Sen. Joel Villanueva joined the new majority bloc.
On the claims of some senators that Sen. Chiz Escudero might be the presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, Senate Pres. Win Gatchalian previously clarified that it is not yet final. According to him, being a lawyer is not an issue with regards to impeachment trial as the impeachment is a political activity that is why the judges are senators.
Recently, amid the looming impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte, Sen. Robin Padilla expressed his opposition on the possibility that Sen. Chiz Escudero might be the presiding officer in the trial. Based on News5, the minority Senator stressed that it should be the Senate President.
Sen. Robin Padilla claimed that it is allegedly clear that Sen. Win Gatchalian should be the one to preside the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. He stressed that it is supposedly written in the Constitution.
Furthermore, based on the post, Sen. Robin Padilla also claimed that it is allegedly not good that there are majority senators who want Sen. Chiz Escudero to be the presiding officer in Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. According to him, the minority bloc is ready to oppose the appointment of any senator other than Senate Pres. Sherwin Gatchalian as the presiding officer in Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Previously, former Senate Pres. Alan Peter Cayetano claimed that the majority senators allegedly want to oust him for the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte.