THE whole day of Wednesday, February 5, was an optimally busy day at the House of Representatives. It was the last day of session, and one of the urgent matters on the agenda was the fast-tracking of the fourth impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The members of the House, obviously taking a cue from Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos — who was the first to sign — and his uncle, the Speaker, were falling and stumbling over themselves in the rush to gather signatures needed to transmit the complaint to the Office of the Speaker for final signature and then for transmittal to the Senate.
Only 102 lawmakers endorsing the impeachment complaint were needed. That’s one-third of the whole membership of the House. The efforts of the proponents resulted in an initial tally of 153 signatures, which ballooned at the end of the day to 215. This is how the principle of bandwagon effect works at the House, and in any organization.
`As President Marcos had cautioned the lawmakers, there’s no use going that road at this time.’
The fourth impeachment complaint, which was the most acceptable to the congressmen, was transmitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate following its passage at the plenary. It was received by Senate Secretary Renato Bantug at 5:49 p.m. while the Senate was in session.
Senate President Chiz Escudero as given the assurance that if a verified impeachment complaint is received by the Senate, they won’t have any choice but to constitute the upper chamber into an impeachment court and proceed with the trial. That cannot be done now because session has adjourned.
On Thursday, Escudero said the impeachment trial will not start until the upper chamber resumes session.
Congress is closed for five months due to the May 2025 midterm elections, and many senators and congressmen will be very busy campaigning for a new term. Those who are not running because their term of office has not expired will also go around to root for their candidates for local positions, the better to help them win in the next big fight in 2028.
The two chambers will be back in June, but by then, there will be a new Senate and a new House of Representatives, and perhaps the lawmakers are not that obsessed anymore in seeing the Vice President impeached.
The House’s effort to impeach Sara Duterte will have to be consigned to the back burner — for now. After the dust of the frenzy has settled, it has just become a grand impeachment show, a futile exercise.
As President Marcos had cautioned the lawmakers, there’s no use going that road at this time. The powerful church Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) had the same admonition. Both were unheeded by the representatives whose devotion to their Speaker precedes everything, perhaps even the concerns of the constituencies that they represent.
