SENATE minority leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III yesterday sought an all-senators’ caucus so they can decide if they can convene the Senate as an impeachment court even if Congress is on break.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has said the impeachment trial will start only after President Marcos Jr delivers his state of the nation address in July, because preparations will take a long time. Pimentel wants the trial to start soon, based on his interpretation of the word “forthwith” in the Constitution, which he said means “without delay.”
The Senate received the Articles of Impeachment from the House on February 5, the last day of session.
Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who is eyeing a return to the Senate under the administration’s Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas slate, said four or five incumbent senators have told him they are willing to convene the Senate as an impeachment court now to tackle the Articles of Impeachment, despite Escudero’s stand.
“I will not name them. Four or five of them, and according to at least two of them, the others feel the same way,” he said in a press conference in Dumaguete City where the Alyansa held a campaign rally with President Marcos Jr.
Pimentel, at Senate media forum yesterday, said Escudero can explain during the caucus his decision to wait for sessions to resume on June 2 to transform the upper chamber into an impeachment court.
If majority of the senators decide the proceedings could not start before June 2, this would have to be reported out to the public, he said.
If they agree with his position, Pimentel said, the Senate can start with the impeachment trial by next month.
He added: “When I use the word ‘trial,’ it means the entire process and not necessarily na uupo na sa witness’ stand para pasagutin na ang impeached official… Ipapa respond lang muna natin ang mga prosecutors para walang question sa subsequent steps kaya sana start na sa March (When I use the word ‘trial’ it means the entire process and not necessarily having the impeached official sit on the witness’ stand… We will let the prosecutors respond so there will be no questions in the subsequent steps that’s why I said March),” Pimentel said.
Pimentel said he would explain to his colleagues in a caucus the content of his first letter to Escudero dated February 14 when he asked the Senate chief to immediately convene the Senate as an impeachment court based on Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 4 of the 1987 Constitution which provides that “in case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all Members of the House of Representatives, the same hall constitute the Articles of Impeachment and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”
Pimentel said he will also explain to Escudero that the Senate is obliged to immediately perform its tasks in the impeachment process and the latter can call for a session for them to function as an impeachment court, and not for legislative functions.
He also said the impeachment rules used during the trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona can still be used as basis to convene the Senate as an impeachment court. He was referring to Resolution No. 39 which was adopted by the Senate in the 15th Congress in March 2011. He said the resolution does not give the impression that the Senate must be in session as a legislative body to convene as an impeachment court.
“Whether or not we are in session as a legislative body, we can be in session as a Senate impeachment court. It is provided for in Rules 10 and 11 of the impeachment rules),” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
He said the Constitution also says nothing about the Senate being in a legislative session to convene as an impeachment court.
“That’s why we should have this debate. That’s why I am convincing my fellow senators, including the Senate President, that my position is logical, it has legal basis,” he said.
At the House, Rep. Gerville Luistro, a House prosecutor, said the impeachment adhered to constitutional requirements, dismissing Duterte’s claim in her petition before the Supreme Court that the House “deliberately circumvented” the constitutional one-year ban on filing impeachment complaints “by directing its Secretary General to allegedly give them more time to file the fourth impeachment complaint, despite the fact that three prior separate impeachment complaints had been filed” in December last year.
Luistro said the first three impeachment complaints filed by various people’s organizations were not the ones formally transmitted to the Senate since these were archived by the House.
This means that the impeachment process was only initiated when the House transmitted to the Senate the fourth complaint it filed last February 5, Luistro said.
“If we will be referring to the first three impeachment complaints, the one year prohibition will apply until November of 2025 but if we will be referring to the fourth impeachment complaint, which I believe is a consolidation of the three impeachment complaints, the prohibition period will take effect in February of 2026. The one-year prohibition period means one year from the date of filing. It does not mean within the year the same was filed,” she said.
Administration Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol) said Duterte’s filing of a petition before the Supreme Court to stop her only shows that she is now cowering in fear and has gone desperate.
“This is a clear sign that the Vice President is afraid to face the evidence against her. If she truly believes she is innocent, why is she running to the Supreme Court instead of preparing her defense before the Senate? This move reeks of desperation,” he said.
