PRESIDENT Ferdinand Marcos Jr. yesterday said he is open to a reconciliation with the Dutertes despite all that has happened, including the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte and his turnover to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands, and the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Marcos, in the first BBM podcast episode, said he does not need any more enemies because he already has a lot. He said he need friends.
“Oo. Ako, ayaw ko ng gulo. Gusto ko makasundo sa lahat ng tao. Mas maganda. Marami na akong kaaway at hindi ko kailangan ng kaaway. Kailangan ko kaibigan (Yes. Me, I don’t want trouble. I want to get along with everyone. It’s better. I already have a lot of enemies and I don’t need enemies. I need friends),” he said when asked if he still wants to reconcile with the Dutertes.
Marcos and the Vice President were running mates in the 2022 presidential elections.
Duterte broke ties with the Marcos administration in June last year when she resigned as education secretary due to differences in opinion. She has also quit as vice chairwoman of government’s anti-communist task force.
In the podcast, Marcos was asked if he favors the impeachment against the vice president. He replied that the case is already with the Senate and prefers to just leave the process to the chamber.
Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said the impeachment process should just be observed, reacting to the vice president’s statement last Saturday that she wants the impeachment trial to proceed because she wants to see some “bloodbath.”
“We hope that it is just a figure of speech and it should not be taken literally. If that is what she wants, and definitely there will be discussions once there is a trial, let us just allow the process to roll,” she said in mixed English and Filipino.
The impeachment trial is likely to start in July.
The Vice President last Saturday said in Davao City that she wants a “bloodbath” in her impeachment trial and that she is prepared to accept whatever the outcome of the proceedings will be. She said her legal team’s preparations were already at “full throttle.”
NO DRAMA, CHAOS
A House prosecutor in the upcoming impeachment trial, incoming Rep. Leila de Lima (PL, Mamamayang Liberal), slammed Duterte’s “braggadocio, mindless arrogance, toxic rhetoric, (and) violence.”
“In an impeachment trial, the only one who is on trial is the person impeached. So there can be no bloodbath. If any blood is spilled, it can only be that of the person impeached, not the prosecutors’, not the senators-judges’, not the administration’s, not the people’s. We will make sure of that,” said the former senator.
“VP Sara is always welcome to witness how her trial will be a serious affair where her rights are respected and the proceedings fair, devoid of the drama and chaos that she is asking her defense team to orchestrate,” she added.
De Lima said an impeachment trial “is not a show of brute force but a sacrosanct constitutional process of accountability.” “No room for chaos, drama, and theatrics that Sara asked her defense team to orchestrate. Contempt ang naghihintay sa kanila (await them) if they even dare to,” she said.
Another prosecutor, Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, laughed off Duterte’s description bloodbath statement.
“It’s better that we call this impeachment trial a ‘winner takes it all.’ There’s no need for a bloodbath. We just want the presentation of evidence by both the prosecution and the defense teams to be clear,” he said in Filipino.
By accepting a “winner-take-all” scheme, Defensor said, it would be easier for both parties and the public to accept the outcome of the trial, whether it ends up in Duterte’s conviction or acquittal.
“It would be best that the process be undertaken already so that the Philippines will have closure. If senator-judges will say the vice president did not commit violations, it will be easy for the members of Congress and her opponents to accept it but if she is found to be accountable, she should also accept the decision,” he said.
Defensor dismissed speculations that some lawmakers might attempt to withdraw support for the impeachment complaint by filing motions to withdraw their signatures, saying he does not believe the Senate will allow it.
“It also won’t look good because it will appear that we are turncoats even if this is our own impeachment complaint,” he said.
He highlighted the political nature of the impeachment process, saying the Supreme Court should steer clear of the process and leave it to Congress since it is not a judicial proceeding.
He said impeachment trials do not follow the strict evidentiary standards of criminal or civil cases and “senator-judges must rely on their conscience and judgment in weighing the evidence presented.”
“It is a political question that senators and congressmen should address and the Supreme Court should not meddle in it),” he said. “If there’s no grave abuse of discretion on the part of the House or the Senate, I am confident that our Supreme Court will respect the separation of powers.”
The Articles of Impeachment, transmitted by the House to the Senate on February 5, accuses Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes. Among the specific acts cited by the complaint is her alleged illegal use of P612.5 million in confidential funds during her concurrent tenure as vice president and education secretary. – With Wendell Vigilia
