Category: senate

19th Senate — “extreme cowardice” or “misplaced mercy”?

YEN MAKABENTA: With its refusal to do its constitutional duty to try Vice President Sara Dutere on an impeachment complaint filed against her by the House of Representatives, the Senate and its leadership have shown extreme cowardice in refusing to convene as an impeachment court and try the case.

This is institutional cowardice that should be rewarded accordingly. The nation should now study how it can sensibly fairly respond to this defiance of a constitutional mandate.

I don’t always agree with Makabenta and I’m not sure a constitutional amendment is the answer just because that would take, like, forever, but I have long wondered if the 18 senators who voted to remand the Articles of Impeachment are really just super wary, even scared, of displeasing the Dutertes who, according to the ICC Prosecution, still wield considerable influence especially in Davao.

Prosecution’s response to ‘Urgent Request for Interim Release’

16. In his capacity as the former President of the Philippines, Mr Duterte held the highest political office in the country for a period of six years. As a result of this position, Mr Duterte has maintained a network of support from powerful individuals within the Philippines. Further, many of Mr Duterte’s associates—including his family members—remain in positions of power with access to powerful domestic networks. This includes his daughter, Sara Duterte, who is Vice President of the Philippines and has made her position clear that she views her father’s detention at the Court as illegitimate. Further, in his filing before the Philippines Supreme Court, Mr Duterte’s counsel highlighted his current strong influence over the police in his home town of Davao – the same police department that the Prosecution alleges was involved in murders at his direction during the mayoral period.

23. Further, if released, Mr Duterte would have greater access to his associates and family who remain in positions of power with access to networks and personnel to carry out witness interference. As noted above, his daughter, Sara Duterte, is Vice President of the Philippines and a reserve colonel in the Army with strong links to the police and military. In these positions, she wields power and influence over governmental structures, as well as over her father’s former allies and supporters. Mr Duterte’s son, Sebastian Duterte, was the Mayor of Davao City. Following Mr Duterte’s election as Mayor, he now serves as Vice Mayor of Davao City. Under the relevant legislation, as Vice-Mayor, he performs the duties of the Mayor in the event of the absence of the Mayor and has the same powers and duties as the Mayor. Sebastian Duterte therefore maintains operational control under relevant domestic legislation for all police officers in Davao City.

And then again, could it also be a case of “misplaced mercy”, as in, nakakaáwà naman kasi sila, nakakulong na nga ang matanda, ii-impeach pa ang anak? Ito ang sumagi sa isip ko nang sabihin ni SP Chiz a few days ago that dismissal by a simple majority is still a possibility (or something like that) at ng isang senador, si  Alan “Remand” Peter yata yon, that the Supremes would then have to rule on the matter and if they take too long, well, then, there’s always next year. Ganoon.

Ang balita naman ni Ronald Llamas, Akbayan propagandist-cum-politicalheckler, on Chris Tan‘s Filipino.com chikahan kahapon, nagtawág daw si SP Chiz ng meeting ng mga senador bukas, a Sunday, “the day before June 30 kung saan hindi na sila 19th congress, biglang sinet.” Anong layunin, indeed. To dismiss the case?

Nagtataka lang ako na walang ibang media na nagbabalita ng miting na iyan. Did I hear wrong? If not, saan kaya napulot ni Llamas ang balita? Sinong nagbulong sa kanya? Credible ba? Imbitado ba lahat ng senador? Aling mga senador? 19th Senate ba, o 20th Senate na? Why is no one asking? Sa totoo lang.

Juan Ponce Enrile: impeachment “impasse”

I had wondered how Juan Ponce Enrile, who performed impressively as Presiding Judge circa Corona in 2012, would have handled the Senator brats of the 19th Senate who succeeded in remanding the impeachment complaint to the House, were allowed privilege speeches to defend the VP, took their oaths “with reservations”, even refused to don their robes, as well as the rest of the 18 who supported them shamelessly. Now we know that JPE wouldn’t have allowed any of it. Thanks to Inquirer.net for this interview where he talks about the impeachment and the Senate’s role. I chanced upon it on YouTube and bothered to transcribe most of it, for the record. Not bad for a centenarian. And good to know that he acknowledges and agrees with the People’s dismay and agitation over the Senate’s rule-bending ways. 

Q. Sir, you have presided over impeachment trials in the past. Do you agree with the way the Senate Impeachment Court is handling the case of Vice President Sara Duterte…

A. I do not know whether they’ve changed the rules but the Constitution is very clear. You must forthwith try and decide… Of course, when you say try, you must hear the evidence, and then decide to acquit or to convict. And the conviction [is not to punish]… the punishment is removal and disqualification to hold public office, but not jail.

I don’t know whether they have changed the rules. We never had the experience or precedent like what they have done now to return the impeachment complaint to the impeaching authority which is the House of Representatives. To me that is not done because the Senate is the co-equal body of the House. The House cannot perform its job without the performance of the Senate, and in the same way the Senate cannot do anything that is valid until the House also performs its function. There is a symbiosis between them.

Q. Would you say that that move to return the impeachment (complaint) is unconstitutional?

A. I think there is a misunderstanding along the way. I do not know why they have to tarry. You know, once an impeachment is filed with the Senate we have no other choice except to hear it, to try it, and decide it. And it will not lapse. Once it is within the jurisdiction of the Senate, it has to discharge its duty to judge the case. It’s sui generis.

Q. Why do you think there are these kinds of moves to return the impeachment case back to the House….

A. Well, frankly I think there is a semblance … that Sara does not want to face an impeachment trial. That is my opinion.

Q. But that’s from the perspective of VP Sara. How about the senator judges, they have a duty to perform, right?

A. The trouble with that is that the Congress of the Philippines will put the Constitution on a very peculiar situation. They are now locked into an impasse. Now, who can unravel that? Either you go to the Supreme Court if there’s a case, and get an interpretation.  But to me there is no need because we have the precedents of Erap and Corona’s impeachments. And the resolution of Senator Bato, with due respect to him, is unparliamentary. You cannot dismiss, you cannot move to dismiss, a case. You cannot even do that in a bill coming from the house changing the name of a street or a cat or whatever. More so, in an impeachment case. An impeachment case is not an accountability to the senators. It’s not an accountability to any impeachable officer. It is not an accountability to the government. It is an accountability to the sovereign people of this country, from whom all powers of the government, including all powers of the senators, emanate.

Q. Should Senator Bato recuse himself or inhibit himself from the trial?

A. A senator who shows his bias and partiality I think can be censured, even, by this chamber, if they want to censure him. … This is the first time that a senator had the temerity to ask for the dismissal of an impeachment case. I’m not sure of the answer to that question.

Q. What goes through your mind when you see these senators introducing new rules that you mentioned are not in the Constitution?

A. Well it goes without saying that they are not familiar with the Constitution… and second, that they do not know the meaning of their role as jurors in an impeachment trial. They’re not there to legislate. … They are there as juries, as judges, to listen to the evidence and to form a conclusion in their mind regarding the weight and gravity of the evidence presented against the respondent. …

Q. The question now is how do we get the impeachment back on track? How do we fix this?

A. Well, let it continue. Did the House accept the remanding of the impeachment case?

Q. They have not….

A. That is the dilemma … but my opinion is that it continues. Now you see the only institution of the government that has members that remain during an election in this country is the Senate. Under the 1935 constitution that was also true but the number was reduced by the 1987 constitution and I do not know why. The purpose of the two-thirds number under the 1935 constitution … is that there must be an institution, just like in the United States, that remains all the time to make a decision in case something happens to the president and the vice president or the House, so that we will not collapse… as a country. Two thirds is more than a quorum of the Senate. That was its purpose. I do not know why they removed the two-thirds and made it one-half. Nothing can function without a quorum. And in case of war, or something happens like this, we are a country without a government. It’s a very dangerous situation. I think we have to change the Constitution and restore the old two-thirds of the Senate that was written in the 1935 Constitution.

You know, what is happening in the Senate, with this event, I’m afraid that the people might be prepared to revamp the structure of  government and abolish the senate. Because it has become…. It has been disturbed very much by what has happened.

Q. Someone said that some senator judges are acting like lawyers for the VP. Do you share that opinion?

A. The rule of impartiality is a hallmark of the role of every senator in an impeachment trial. That is why impeachment of an impeachable officer, and there are only a very few of them, is separated from Article VI of the Constitution. It was treated in Article IX because that is the article that governs accountability of high government officials wielding high powers of government. Who are the impeachable officers? The President, the Vice President, members of the Supreme Court, members of Constitutional Commissions, including the Ombudsman. Those are the only impeachable positions. The president cannot do anything because he is also an impeachable officer. He has a conflict of interest if he will intervene, apart from the separation of powers. The president is locked out from the fray.

Q. How do we go beyond partisan politics and make it about accountability?

A. The only two ways that I can see would be for the Supreme Court to make an interpretation which will become a part of our jurisprudence and in turn become a part of the law of the land to define and clarify that portion of the Constitution. The second one is, amend the Constitution… there’s no other way.

Some people might think that this is a very light problem for the country. No sir. We are in a very dangerous situation right now because if there is an impasse the Senate cannot command the House to do anything. They are co-equal. Neither can the House command the Senate to do anything. The House did its function — they conducted hearings, they found something wrong, you may not agree with them but they found that, and they submitted it to the Senate for resolution. The Senate is supposed to do its job with reasonable speed or, as the Constitution says, forthwith, anybody can understand that English, and they did not do it, they tarried and dillydallied and worse they turned it back to the House… which is improper and unparliamentary…. You must give a presumption of regularity to the other house. You cannot demand or command the other house which is your co-equal.

Q. With all the moves that we are seeing from the senator judges, do you think it’s just because they have no numbers to convict the vice president?

A. I do not know whether there are no numbers to convict or acquit the vice president but in an impeachment trial…  I give you myself as an example. I was going to vote for Corona but I changed my mind when I heard the evidence coming from his own mouth. How do you know that those people who will hear the evidence will not change their minds? Because if they’re going to act in a way where the public feels that they’re not performing their jobs they’re subject to punishment through election. If they’re not going to run again, maybe, but they’re politicians, they cater to the desires … of the voting population

Q. Kumbaga, the people will remember.

A. Im sure. I’m sure some people will get hurt with what happened.

Q. I want to go back to the impeachment trial of President Estrada . Do you see any similarities between the trial of President Estrada and the trial of Vice President Duterte given that they are both from the executive branch?

A. In the case of the first impeachment that happened, I don’t think that anyone can say that we delayed. As I told you the process that we followed was, when the impeachment was received by the secretary general of the senate, that official sent it to the committee on rules, the committee on rules immediately, the following session day he puts it in the order of business for first reading, and the plenary will send it to the proper committee for processing immediately, and we did that in the case of Erap, and the head of the committee that handled it was Renato Cayetano, and we prepared the rules of impeachment, how the senator judges will comport themselves, how time is allotted to each clarificatory question, and that there must be no debate. You cannot debate with the witness, you cannot debate with each other .

Q. If you have a chance to have a conversation with the sitting senator judges, what would you tell them?

A.  With due respect to them my (first advice) is to be reticent, keep quiet. … Go to the session hall during the trial, sit down and listen to the proceeding, listen to the presentation of evidence. Let the defense lawyer and the prosecution handle each other but never interfere unless you want to ask a clarificatory question. Understand the meaning of the evidence that is being presented or the words uttered by the witness.

Q. How about the Filipino people.  What would be their role in this impeachment trial?

A. Im sure the Filipino people who have a little understanding of  these things will wonder why things are happening this way. Im sorry to say this but even I was a little bit taken (aback) with the events that transpired because (it was) very evident that there is a desire to prevent the trial to go through.

Kailangan maintindihan ng ating bayan na kung itong proseso  ng impeachment na nangyayari ngayon ay masusunod, wala nang sasangga sa corruption sa buong bansa. Ibigay na lang natin yung pera … ng mga nagbabayad ng buwis … sa gobyerno, at bahala na sila. Hindi na pupunta sa mga tao. Libre na eh. Wala nang magbabawal sa kanila. Wala na silang barrier o yung sasangga sa nakawan ng kaban ng bayan. Nalulungkot ako dahil karamihan nitong mga nasa senado ngayon , marami sa kanila mga kaibigan ko. Pero yung mga bago, dapat mag-aral naman sila sana, at malaman nila kung ano talaga ang ibig sabihin nitong trabaho na pumasok sa kanila na dapat nilang sundin.

“Extra-constitutional musings”

Until now, the Senate has been savaged by lawyers, law deans, law students and even plain housewives for allegedly failing to do what the Constitution commands. Some of them may have even begun to believe that an extra-constitutional option would be a better alternative. By going to trial now, and making sure the trial works, the Senate could effectively put these extra- constitutional musings to rest and reassure the nation that the impeachment process still works and should be given a chance. There would be no need to mobilize public sentiment, as some sectors seem to believe they should be doing, in favor of some costly alternative. https://www.manilatimes.net/

That’s from “The Senate and its discontents” by former Senator Francisco “Kit” Tatad, one of the 11 who refused to open the second envelope, circa Erap. Interesting that he brings up the notion of “an extra-constitutional option” — meron nga ba? Parang wala.

If in the 20th Senate, the VP’s allies have enough votes to manage to dismiss the case without convening as an Impeachment Court, on whatever grounds, a walkout by the opposing Senators, even if supported by The People (as in Edsa Dos) would not necessarily compel the VP to resign. And even if she were to resign, she could still run for president in 2028 even if she may be guilty of betraying public trust atbp.

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Thanks to former Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban for calling out the Senate in his column today: “Senators, do you know where the impeachment proceeding is going to?”

To the Supreme Court where the 20th Congress and the lawyers may delay and scuttle it till forgotten by our people?

To the waste basket, never mind the people’s cry for accountability (credible polls say that a vast majority—from 78 to 88 percent—of our people want accountability and transparency)?

To embarrass the VP who expressed a desire to clear her name via due process from her alleged maltreatment by the HOR?

To the battle in July 2025 for the election of the senate president of the 20th Congress who would thereafter preside over the reconvening of the IC?

To be fair, I did not identify the senator-judges alluded to though readers could name them based on what they saw and heard during the live coverage of the IC sessions, and on printed media reports. I leave it to their discretion as elected public officials to retain the public trust by answering the questions in the song popularized by the chanteuse Diana Ross. https://opinion.inquirer.net/

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And then my YouTube algo came up with a Doris Bigornia phone interview of Senator-elect Tito Sotto who has changed his tune, now agrees that the Impeachment Court continues into the 20th Senate. BUT he’s saying that it’s the Chief Justice who should be the Presiding Officer of the Impeachment Court, as when a president is impeached, because the VP’s office and duties are more like the president’s, or something like that. Also, that if the VP is impeached, it’s the Senate Prez who becomes Acting VP until the prez appoints a new one, which means “ikaw pa ang tratraidor sa papalitan mo” … a confict of interest for the SP, who can also be replaced even while the prez has yet to appoint a new VP,  or something like that. https://www.youtube.com/

For a very brief moment there, it sounded reasonable, but is it even possible to have the Chief Justice preside in the VP’s impeachment without amending the Constitution?  I emailed CJ Panganiban forthwith and here’s his reply, also forthwith:

The Constitution provides that the Senate President presides except when the President is the respondent in which case the CJ presides. There is only one exception, we cannot add another whether by our wise judgment or by far fetched logic.

So there. Which brings me back to “extra-constitutional musings” and how to get the DDS allies in the Senate to behave as honorable senators should, like recuse, or restrain themselves until we’ve all heard all of the evidence. How ironic that we succeeded in removing two presidents but can’t do anything about a Senate that threatens to acquit an impeached vice president without a trial.

Bato bato picks (Chiz loses)

I take it all back. No more giving SP Chiz Escudero the benefit of the doubt. There is just no defending or excusing the way he entertained Senator Bato‘s motion to dismiss the verified impeachment complaint on grounds that it violated the one-year ban, which was eagerly endorsed and helped along by Senator Alan Peter, both even claiming to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. E di wow.

As Senator Risa Hontiveros clearly pointed out:

… if there is a motion to dismiss the case, it should come from the camp of the vice president, and not from a senator-judge.

“A motion to dismiss is not found, hindi po ito nahahanap, itong motion to dismiss, sa rules of impeachment na literal kaa-adopt lang natin. At kung meron man, hindi senator-judge ang magraise noon, pero ang defendant. Si Vice President Sara Duterte ang magre-raise niyan. Higit pa po, naniniwala ako na hindi tayo pwedeng kumilos unilaterally sa dismissal ng impeachment complaint nang hindi pa natin naririnig ni isang salita mula sa prosecution,  ni isang salita mula sa defense, tungkol doon sa di umanong constitutional infirmities ng impeachment complaint. Ang due process ay nagre-require na bigyan natin pareho ang prosecution at ang defense ng oportunidad na madinig sa bagay na ito,” Hontiveros said. https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/

Nakagalit din na hinayaang “mag-abogado” para sa VP sina Bato, Imee, Go, at Robin, with their privilege speeches about “more important things”, taking their oath “with reservations”, and some, Imee, Robin, and Cynthia Villar, refusing to wear the judges’ gowns.

I seriously wonder how Presiding Officer Juan Ponce Enrile (circa Corona) would have handled these brats.

Meanwhile, BRAVO to the five senators who stood tall against the “remand”:  Risa, Koko Pimentel, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, and Win Gatchalian! May your tribes increase!