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On February 27, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero confirmed that the upper chamber has proposed to calendar July 30 as the start of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. This would be done, according to him, after a structured pre-trial process to ensure a fair and orderly proceeding. (READ | Escudero: Impeachment trial likely to begin after SONA in July)
Preparations would kick off on June 2, as soon as the Senate session resumes. This is when prosecutors are expected to present the Articles of Impeachment and senators will approve revised trial rules.
The announcement comes as weary Filipinos who want to exact accountability from VP Sara have pushed for an early impeachment trial. People see the earlier justifications made by Escudero to delay the proceedings as an attempt to shield VP Sara and the Duterte family.
In an earlier press conference, the Senate President said there is no clamor for the immediate trial of the Vice President. The Senate, he explained, is in recess, and so it cannot legally take up the matter.
On suggestions that he heeds the clamor for immediate trial, Escudero claimed that only three people have been urging him to do so, and they do not constitute a “clamor.” He pointed out that in any case, clamor — if it really exists — does not make it right.
“There was clamor to nail Jesus Christ on the cross,” he argued, “but that does not mean that it was [the right thing to do].”
The Senate President is making a false equivalence fallacy or a faulty comparison between apples and oranges. For claiming he was the Son of God, Jesus was accused of blasphemy by the Jews. VP Sara, on the other hand, is facing charges for misuse and malversation of confidential funds [thievery, in plain language]; for contracting an assassin to murder the President, the First Lady, and the House Speaker, and for graft and corruption, among other crimes.
The Senate President, as usual, is shooting from the hip, throwing words at random, and articulating thoughts without considering their import and propriety. The sing-song tone and outdated Balagtasan style of talking is grating to the ears of those born in the digital age, who by the way, make up the overwhelming majority of voters.
Public clamor
If it is clamor Escudero is looking for, it is staring him in the face.
On February 5, 2025, 215 members of the House signed an impeachment complaint against the Vice President. Twenty-five other lawmakers have since signed the document, bringing the number of signatories to 240, way above the one-third of the House membership, or 102 signatures, required to make the impeachment complaint valid for transmittal to the Senate for trial.
The fact that Duterte, during the House quadcom investigation, displayed extreme arrogance may have turned the representatives against her. Or maybe the evidence against her was so overwhelming that it left them no choice, but to impeach her.
Only three Filipino government officials have suffered that fate: then-president Joseph Estrada, then-chief justice Renato Corona, and, now, Vice President Sara Duterte. It is entirely possible that Escudero is delaying the trial for reasons other than what he has been citing.
The consensus is that the Senate President is just sucking up to VP Sara, believing her family still commands a sizable following, something he could tap when he makes his own bid for vice president, under the woman who is almost certain to run for the highest office of the land.
That is, if — and this is a big IF — Duterte survives the trial. Conviction by the Senate would mean not only removal as vice president, but also perpetual disqualification from holding public office, whether elective or appointive. She could not even run for barangay captain in Davao City or elsewhere.
One reason for Escudero’s dilly-dallying jumps out. He is one ambitious politician, bent on becoming vice president and that requires, as he sees it, hitching his wagon to what he thinks is good presidential material, and the VP Sara fits the bill. But hasn’t he tried that tack with Grace Poe-Llamanzares as co-conspirator in the 2016 presidential election? Sure, he got nowhere, but hope springs eternal in an ambitious man’s heart.
The Senate President must have made a quick calculation. In the 23-man Senate, Duterte needs seven votes for exoneration. Only five of the current Senators — Christopher “Bong” Go, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Robin Padilla, Cynthia Villar, and Mark Villar — could be relied upon to deliver the goods for VP Sara.
Numbers game
Escudero thinks — and the survey shows he may be right — that Go and Dela Rosa are going to win, along with Camille, Cynthia’s daughter and surrogate (the Villar matriarch is not running for re-election). If two or three other candidates fielded by PDP-Laban make it in the midterm elections, a verdict of acquittal is certain.
That, however, is a dicey proposition. The three incumbent senators may win their reelection bid, but even the most popular of the other PDP-Laban bets, Philip Salvador, Willie Revillame, and Jimmy Bondoc, are unlikely to land in the winning column.
Also, Interpol, working for the International Criminal Court (ICC), could haul off Dela Rosa, kicking and screaming, to The Hague to face trial for crimes against humanity. On the other hand, Go could be arrested by local courts for plunder and murder, both non-bailable offenses. It will be recalled that Go figured prominently in the Pharmally scam and the highly anomalous Philippine Navy frigate deal, each of which cost the government tens of billions in losses, and in the assassination of retired General Wesley Barayuga.
All these developments are predicated on the assumption that President Marcos Jr. has enough sense and the balls to act in his own self-interest.
There is also this troubling notion brought up by Atty. Howard Calleja, a law professor at Ateneo de Manila and La Salle University, that China is the unintended beneficiary of Escudero’s singlehanded blockade of VP Sara’s impeachment. “Any delay in the impeachment protects VP Sara and weakens the administration’s political position against the Dutertes,” Calleja explained. “For as long as the Dutertes remain politically strong, China will have a foot in our political door.”
Calleja said Escudero must have his own reasons for risking too much, including driving a wedge between himself and the Marcos administration which could cost him his post, “and such reason must really be important to him because the delay is not serving country and people, but only Sara, the Dutertes and Escudero himself.”
Sara Duterte is no Cory Aquino, who allowed the old Marcos to flee the country in 1986 with his wife Imelda and their children, despite believing within reason that the Marcoses orchestrated the murder of her husband Ninoy Aquino. Like her father, VP Sara plays by a different set of rules.
But let’s go back to Escudero. His plan to hold the trial when there are enough senators sitting as judges, who are likely to return a verdict of acquittal, could backfire spectacularly. He is making a pact with the devil, and chances are high that he will lose in the bargain. – Rappler.com
