Bato dela Rosa moves for Senate to dismiss Sara Duterte impeachment case

Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa on Tuesday afternoon made a motion in the Senate plenary seeking that the verified impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte be dismissed.

Dela Rosa, a known ally of the Duterte family, made the motion as he delivered his privilege speech during a plenary session at the Senate. 

“I respectfully move that in view of its constitutional infirmities and questions on the jurisdiction and authority of the 20th Congress, the verified impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte be dismissed,” Dela Rosa said. 

Dela Rosa said the House of Representatives violated the one-year ban indicated in Article XI, Section 2, paragraph 5 of the Constitution.

The first impeachment complaint was filed on December 2, 2024, while the second and third complaints were filed on December 4 and 19, 2024, respectively. 

However, Dela Rosa said the complaints were not “immediately” referred to the Speaker of the House.

“Hindi po ito simpleng pagkalimot, Mr. President. Ito po ay tahasang pagsantabi ng kanilang internal rules at constitutional provision. Sinadya po nila na balewalain ang Konstitusyon,” Dela Rosa said. 

(This is not a simple oversight, Mr. President. This is a blatant disregard of their internal rules and constitutional provisions. They deliberately disregarded the Constitution.)

“Kung defective po ang foundation ng impeachment complaint, mare-repair o mare-rehabilitate ba ito ng pag-convene ng impeachment court? Hindi po ba mawawalan ng saysay ang pagconvene ng Senate as an impeachment court kung malinaw na labag sa Konstitusyon ang nais nating itayo?” he added. 

(If the foundation of the impeachment complaint is defective, will it be repaired or rehabilitated once the impeachment court is convened? Wouldn't convening the Senate as an impeachment court be pointless if what we want to establish is clearly against the Constitution?)

Dela Rosa also said impeachment was a sensitive process and could cause damage to the reputation of the accused, whether or not he or she was convicted.

“Mapanganib ang impeachment sa kamay ng mga mapagsamantala. Inilagay ang impeachment para protektahan ang taumbayan, hindi isakdal at hiyain ang kumakatawan sa kanila,” he said. 

(Impeachment is dangerous in the hands of exploiters. Impeachment was put in place to protect the people, not to indict and shame those who represent them.)

After a few minutes of suspension of the session, Senator Risa Hontiveros made a motion that any interpellation, action, or seconding speech on Dela Rosa’s privilege speech be suspended momentarily to allow the senators first to take their oath as judges of the impeachment court.

Senator Imee Marcos, meanwhile, cut off Hontiveros as she called for a point of order.

"I wasn't being rude but simply recognizing the fact that the point of order takes precedence over all other motions. Also, that there was in fact a motion already pending on the floor, already acknowledged as well as by our majority leader, which requires a vote," Imee Marcos said after another brief session suspension.

Before Dela Rosa’s privilege speech, Senator Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III said the senators should first take their oath as senator-judges as approved by the plenary on Monday.

“My motion is to execute and implement what was agreed yesterday at 4 p.m., we take our oath. It’s 4:31 p.m.,” Pimentel said. 

However, Dela Rosa said the Senate agreed that he would deliver his privilege speech before taking his oath. 

“That’s why I made it a precondition to my approval or to my agreement to the motions yesterday. I’m willing to take an oath as a member of the impeachment court, provided that you let me first deliver my privilege speech,” Dela Rosa said. 

He added that this was agreed by Pimentel, but the minority leader denied it. 

“Ang agreement natin (our agreement) is the oath-taking, not the convening of the court,” Pimentel said.

Dela Rosa reiterated his motion after the Senate convened as an impeachment court, which Senator Bong Go seconded.

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero took his oath first on Monday night as the presiding officer of the impeachment court. –NB/VBL, GMA Integrated News