‘Sara impeachment trial to proceed despite Duterte’s ICC trial’

March 18, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte would proceed despite the current ordeal of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, at the International Criminal Court (ICC), Senate President Francis Escudero confirmed yesterday.

The Senate President said the impeachment trial has nothing to do with the ICC proceedings.

“Those are separate incidents. I don’t see any connection between the two, and it’s not a reason to delay anything the Senate needs to do regarding our work here and whatever is happening in The Hague,” he said.

“There is no law that says we will postpone the impeachment because of the ICC. There is nothing in the law that allows us to postpone the impeachment because of a protest action,” Escudero said in Filipino.

Escudero previously proposed a timeline for the impeachment trial, beginning with the reading of the Articles of Impeachment on June 2, followed by the approval of revised impeachment trial rules.

“As I said before, that is a proposed schedule. We have furnished both the House and the Vice President, as well as the members of the Senate. All of this will be final and decided when we resume, depending on whether this is supported by the majority of the Senate members and the impeachment court,” he said.

He reiterated that the Vice President is not required to attend the impeachment proceedings.

“Especially if Vice President Duterte is busy, for example, as one of her father’s lawyers, she is not required to attend the impeachment trial in the Senate unless the impeachment court specifically requires her to do so, as she needs to be identified. However, I don’t think this will be an issue since everyone already knows her,” Escudero added.