‘Impeach delay not fault of House’

February 22, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — It’s not the fault of the House of Representatives that the nation will have to wait for months for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte to proceed, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said, as she chided Senate President Francis Escudero for ruling out an earlier schedule for a trial.

“We did not delay. We have to understand that Congress is a collegial body. I cannot decide alone. The good government committee cannot decide alone. This is a collegial body that needs a collegial decision,” Luistro said on The STAR’s “Truth on the Line.”

She said the more than 300 House members thoroughly studied the grounds cited in the impeachment case against Duterte.

After getting the signatures of 215 House members, Lusitro said the Articles of Impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate.

“There are 306 members in the House. As a general rule, we need the majority. And for the purpose of the impeachment case, we need at least one-third,” she explained.

Luistro said House members needed time to conduct their own evaluations before reaching a collective decision.

“Since the filing of the first three impeachment complaints, the individual congressmen had their own evaluation of the complaint. We really had to take time, and we did, before we were able to come up with a collegial decision,” she said.

Luistro also challenged Escudero to prove his assertion that there was no significant public clamor for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court.

“With all due respect to the Senate President, we are on the ground. The House members are on the ground. I myself, and even the other congressmen, can attest that a lot of people in our districts are waiting for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court,” the Batangas lawmaker said.

Due process

She also dismissed accusations that the Vice President had been denied due process.

“As a matter of fact, a summons will be issued to her. She will be asked to answer, and she will be given time to present her evidence. This is what due process is all about,” she pointed out.

“We did our duty. We followed the rules. We upheld the Constitution. Now, it is time for the Senate to do theirs,” she said.

For Deputy Assistant Majority Leader and Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, Duterte’s contesting her impending trial showed a pattern of evading transparency and accountability.

“Transparency is fundamental in any democratic government. If Vice President Duterte has done nothing wrong, why is she so afraid of the truth? Blocking the impeachment process through the Supreme Court only raises more doubts,” Acidre said in a statement.

Acidre said this was not the first time that Duterte attempted to suppress scrutiny of her actions.

During a congressional investigation last year, Acidre said it was discovered that Duterte’s office tried to prevent the Commission on Audit (COA) from releasing findings on her controversial P125-million confidential fund.

“This pattern is alarming. First, she tried to block COA’s report. Now, she wants to stop Congress from doing its job. What exactly is she trying to hide?”

Acidre said that impeachment is a constitutional mechanism meant to ensure accountability among high-ranking officials.

Delaying tactics

For her part, San Juan Rep. Bel Zamora accused Duterte’s defense counsel of employing delaying tactics.

“In any case, you will always have the other party, one or both parties, filing dilatory tactics. I had the privilege of appearing in court in many instances, and you will always have parties doing that, delaying the case,” Zamora said.

“Or if one doesn’t have a case, then they will file such petitions for certiorari (review) to go all the way up to the Supreme Court if only to prolong the process,” she added.

Zamora said she is confident though that SC justices “will see through” such ploys.

She also explained that it won’t be that easy for the Duterte camp to invoke the one-year ban on filing impeachment complaints.

“The reason why there’s a one-year ban is to protect both sides. First, if there are frivolous complaints against an official, then we don’t want more complaints to be dragging for a long time and preventing that official from doing his or her job,” Zamora said.

Meanwhile, Duterte is expected to tap defense lawyers Philip Sigfrid Fortun and Gregorio Narvasa II for her defense.

Although Duterte had earlier refused to identify her defense team, the petition she filed with the SC contesting her trial revealed that she was being represented by her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, her father-in-law Lucas Carpio Jr., Sheila Sison, Roberto Batongbacal, Fortun and Narvasa. — Elizabeth Marcelo