Bayan Muna calls on Senate to expedite Sara Duterte impeachment trial

Bayan Muna Party-list submitted its position paper Wednesday to the Senate calling for swift action on the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. 

“Para sa amin this is a formal and official submission…Kasi naglabas na kami ng legal position namin, nagsabi naman kami sa Senate na we are going to submit this to you, hoping na sana ma-distribute sa mga members at ma-consider nila at maisip nila,” Bayan Muna Party-list chairperson Neri Colmenares told reporters. 

(For us, this is a formal and official submission….We informed the Senate that we will submit this to them and hopefully this will be distributed to the members for their consideration.) 

Colmenares said that the submission paper points out that the Senate has enough time to convene as an impeachment court. He added that only one impeachment ground is needed to oust Duterte from her post. 

“Nandito rin 'yung legal basis kung bakit ang president ng Senado ay pwede na mag-aksyon ngayon for the preliminaries without the need of drafting a new set of rules,” he said. 

(This contains the legal basis on why the Senate president can already take action for the preliminaries without the need of drafting a new set of rules.) 

“Sana maakysunan na nila para kung ma-convene man ang impeachment court, whether this month or next month, at least facilitated na mabilis […] Kasi you only need one ground to convict, kahit isa lang, hanapin lang ng prosecution ang pinaka-malakas na kaso…ayun na, madali na lang nila ma-dispose even before June 30. Tapos na nila ito kung gustuhin lang nila na mag-convene ng trial,” he added. 

(I hope they can take action so everything will be facilitated smoothly whether the impeachment court will be convened this month or next month […] Because you only need one ground to convict and they can dispose the case even before June 30. They can already finish it if they really want to convene a trial.) 

Only during regular session

For his part, Senate President Francis Escudero maintained that the impeachment trial could only be done during a regular session of Congress, even noting that it took two months for the the House of Representatives to take action on the petitions.

“Well, tatanggapin namin ‘yun, ire-refer ko yun sa Committee on Rules at sa  legal team ng Senado para gumawa ng karampatang sagot at matimbang ang kanyang mungkahi,” Escudero said at a press briefing.

(Well, we will accept that and refer it to the Committee on Rules and the Senate’s legal team to give a proper response and weigh their stance.)

“Pero dalawang buwang inupuan ‘yan ng mga congressman. Dalawang buwan inupuan ‘yan ng mga complainant ngayon sa Senado [...] Sino ba naman sila ngayon para madaliin kami? Samantalang sila naman ay hindi nagmamadali kaugnay sa kanilang reklamo mismo.”

(But our congressmen had waited for two months before making an action. The complainants in the Senate also sat on it for two months [...] So who are they to rush us? The House did not even rush when it came to these complaints.)

“Old rules man o new rules, kailangan may sesyson ang Senado, kailangan may sesyon ang Kongreso, bago kami makapag-convene ng impeachment court,” Escudero further said.

(Whether there are old rules or new rules, the Senate must first hold a session, the Congress must be in session before we can convene an impeachment court.)

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III has also called on Escudero earlier to immediately start the impeachment trial of Duterte, emphasizing that it is the Senate's constitutional mandate to do so.

Pimentel stressed that the word "forthwith" stated in the Section 3(4), Article XI of the 1987 Constitution denotes urgency or promptness.

But Escudero maintained that the Constitution does not explicitly state that the Senate shall quickly convene a trial.

“Hindi sinasabing immediately mag-convene, wala sa Konstitusyon ‘yun,” said Escudero.

(It was not mentioned that we should convene immediately, the Constitution does not state that.)

“Forthwith, within the bounds of law, ilegal na mag-convene ako ngayon dahil wala kaming sesyon. Ayoko madaliin dahil nag-relax ang Kamara ng dalawang buwan tapos mamadaliin kami ngayon,” he maintained.

(Forthwith, within the bounds of law, we are still not allowed to hold a session. I don’t want to rush it because the House relaxed for two months and now they want us to act quickly?)

In response, Pimentel said: ‘Forthwith’ na nga ang ginamit to refer to the trial itself. Then what should be the Senate’s pace for those preliminaries before the trial like the pre-trial? If the trial should proceed ‘forthwith,’ then all the preliminaries like the pre-trial should proceed faster than ‘forthwith,’ maybe even at the speed of light?” — AOL/RSJ, GMA Integrated News