THE CIRCUS CONTINUES

May 25, 2025 Opinion

Even as the spectacle of the recently held midterm elections is done and over with, albeit with a few exceptions such as the suspension of proclamations, the filing of election protests, etc., another equally vital spectacle is about to take place, this is the impeachment trial of
Vice President Sara Duterte for alleged corruption, involvement in extrajudicial killings, incitement to insurrection and public disorder.
The looming impeachment trial in the Senate of Vice President Sara Duterte is becoming one of the most anticipated political shows in the country barring the just concluded elections. And to those still not aware of it the impeachment trial of the vice president is indeed a political exercise although of a different kind and of a different means.

This time using political loyalty and alliances in the Senate the vice president will attempt to win an acquittal against the charges leveled against her which resulted in her impeachment. Just this May 19, 2025 the Senate President Francis ‘Chiz’ Escudero already sent a letter
to House Speaker Martin Romualdez on the subject: verified Impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte, citing among others that pursuant to their rules of procedure on impeachment trials and having taken proper order on the impeachment of the vice president he is giving notice that the Senate is ready to receive the House of Representatives panel of prosecutors in the afternoon of June 2, 2025.

In asking the House of Representatives to send their impeachment prosecutors to the Senate Escudero is already facilitating the laying of the groundwork for the start of the impeachment trial. But it does not end there. The Senate already expects that when the House of Representatives’ panel of prosecutors will make an appearance in their chambers they will be ready to read the 7 charges under the articles of impeachment in open session. And afterwards, the Senate shall then be expected to convene as an impeachment court at 9:00 am of June 3, 2025 for the purpose of issuing summons and other relevant orders.

So it would appear that Senate President Escudero is following the timetable which he proposed last February before the elections on how the impeachment trial would proceed. To recall in his proposed time-table he mentioned that on June 2, 2025 when session resumes there will be a presentation of the articles of impeachment by the prosecutors and the approval of the revised Rules of Procedures on Impeachment trials. On June 3, 2025 the Senate as an impeachment court will convene and the oath taking of the incumbent Senators as judges will take place. After-which, there will be an issuance of summons on June 4, 2025 and reception of pleadings from June 14 to June 24 and then the start of the pre-trial on June 25, 2025.

These are actually the preliminary steps that have to be taken before the conduct of the trial proper but take note that once these procedures are undertaken trial can immediately proceed to find out if indeed the vice president is guilty and should be removed from office. The only delay in the proceedings would be the inaugural session of the Senate of the 20th Congress which is scheduled on July 28, 2025 and the joint Session of Congress to hear the State of the Nation Address of President Bongbong Marcos. As already scheduled in
the proposed timetable presented by Senate President Escudero after the Joint Session of Congress for the SONA of the president the oath taking of the newly elected Senator Judges shall take place before the Senate sitting as an Impeachment court on July 29, 2025 and then on July 30, 2025 the start of the impeachment trial.

So before binge-watching on Netflix, prime or max and the other movie sites available on the internet this July start preparing for the more exciting perhaps even shocking, and according to the vice president a “bloodbath”, trial of the decade right in the hallowed halls of the Senate. To date there are only five high public officials who have been impeached by the House of Representatives in plenary. These are former president Joseph Estrada (trial aborted), former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez (resigned before trial), former Chief Justice Renato Corona (removed and disqualified by the Senate), former chairman of the COMELEC Andres Bautista (resigned before trial by the Senate), and vice president Sara Duterte with her impeachment trial pending. We can be sure that the vice president won’t consider
resignation as a way of avoiding the spectacle of her impeachment trial and with her combative attitude we can expect that she and her legal team will use everything, even perhaps a mass protest by the Duterte loyalists, to delay the progress of the trial, and so expect the circus to continue.