By Brian Campued
President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on Tuesday said the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte will likely extend to the 20th Congress, as the Senate does not have enough time to wrap up the proceedings before it adjourns by the end of June.
“It is very clear that it will. Because there is no way that even if they start the trial now, that they will finish it before the new senators come in,” the President said in an interview at Malacañang.
Marcos reiterated that it is up to the senators to decide on which actions to take with regards to the impeachment trial.
“This is really a function of the Senate right now. So, we leave it to them,” he said, noting that the Articles of Impeachment was already transmitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate months ago.
“We are watching, of course, what the Senate President, Chiz Escudero, is doing to try to make as peaceful a transition as possible from this Congress to the next.”
Escudero formally took oath as presiding officer of the impeachment court on Monday evening; the Senate also referred the impeachment complaint against Duterte to the Rules panel, the committee tasked to determine the schedule and procedures for the trial.
The Senate resumes session on Wednesday, June 11, when the Articles of Impeachment would formally be presented by the House prosecution panel.
The upper chamber’s move came amid public clamor on whether Duterte should or should not face impeachment trial.
In a Tugon ng Masa survey conducted by OCTA Research on April 20–24, 78% of Filipino respondents said the Vice President should face a Senate trial “to clear her name” on the charges of corruption and other high crimes stated in the Articles of Impeachment signed by the House of Representatives.
About 13% disagreed while 9% said they did not know the answer or have no answer. (with report from Isaiah Mirafuentes / PTV News)
-jpv
