THE Senate might convene as an impeachment court as early as May 13 if the House of Representatives impeaches Vice President Sara Duterte in a plenary vote on May 11, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Thursday.
The House Committee on Justice on Wednesday found probable cause to impeach Duterte arising from two complaints accusing her of misusing public funds and making a death threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The committee is expected to meet on May 4 and produce its report, the resolution and articles of impeachment.
Sotto on Thursday called for a senators’ caucus to discuss preparations amid the possibility that the articles of impeachment may soon be transmitted to the Senate.
Present during the caucus were Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri and Senators Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda and Robinhood Padilla.
“Let’s say they approve [the articles of impeachment] on May 11, [they will transmit it on] May 12. [The Senate should] discuss it already on May 13 and convene as an impeachment court,” Sotto said in a chance interview.
In a separate interview, Lacson said it would be up to Duterte whether she would attend the trial “although the impeachment court may compel her to attend.” The Senate will resume session on May 4 after a monthlong break. “The Senate must be in session to receive [the articles of incorporation],” the senator said.
“But as of now, everything is speculative. What we will be doing in caucus is discuss agenda for this month and then possibility of receiving the articles of impeachment,” he said.
“Then, we will discuss the possibility of what should be done and the timetable — that is crucial,” said Sotto, who will act as the impeachment court’s presiding officer while the senators will serve as judges.
Lacson said that just like Sotto, he was also preparing to act as judge.
But he said Sotto has greater responsibility as the presiding officer.
“He needs to act on the spot because [there might be a time] he has to rule or overrule the objections of both the defense and prosecution [panels],” Lacson said.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Committee on Justice, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, said the House of Representatives is prepared to strengthen its legal team, including the possible engagement of seasoned private litigators, if the impeachment case against the vice president reaches the Senate for trial.
In a radio interview, Luistro said a full trial setting calls for a specialized combination of legislative experience and active courtroom expertise to effectively present the case.
“If I will be one of the panel of prosecutors, I will really recommend that we engage private prosecutors to help and aid the members of the House who will be joining the panel,” she said.
She noted that she and her lawyer-colleagues in the House of Representatives are no longer updated about litigation, whereas the defense team they would face would likely be made up of litigation specialists.
Luistro said this makes outside support both practical and, in her view, necessary.
She said the rules specify 11 public prosecutors who will be elected in plenary, while leaving the matter of private lawyers open.
Luistro defended the proceedings conducted by the House Committee on Justice which has found probable cause to impeach Duterte.
She also denied an accusation from Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte that lawmakers were being pressured into supporting the impeachment.
“I beg to disagree with that. I did not encounter anyone calling me or my chief of staff to support this impeachment process,” Luistro said in Filipino and English in an interview on GMA Network’s “Unang Hirit” on Thursday.
“And I wish to add that in my capacity as chairman, we did not stand for either party. We stood for the process,” she said.
“During the clarificatory hearing of the Justice Committee, we were impartial, we were independent because we acted as investigators in a proceeding akin to a preliminary investigation. The mandate is very simple: to determine whether or not probable cause exists,” she said.
With 53 committee members voting unanimously, the committee last Wednesday declared the existence of probable cause in the two impeachment complaints against Duterte.
Luistro said the committee will transmit the documents to the House on May 4 and that “we anticipate that the plenary will be transmitting these documents to all the members of the House.” “So after giving them reasonable time to study the articles of impeachment and all the documents, the plenary should be ready to vote. As to when, it will depend on the plenary,” she said.
Copies of the documents would also be sent to Duterte.
Luistro said she was “anticipating a heated debate” at the plenary before the House votes on whether to send the impeachment articles to the Senate.
No foundation
Also on Thursday, lawyers for the vice president said the evidence presented at the House Committee on Justice is not a foundation for probable cause.
The statement came after National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag said that Duterte’s threats against President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former speaker Martin Romualdez has already been established and that there is a “reasonable certainty of conviction” for cases of grave threat and inciting to sedition.
In a statement sent to The Manila Times, Duterte’s counsel, Paul Lawrence Lim, said the presentation “reveals the paucity of the charges” against the vice president.
“Evidence is curated, even spliced. Context is ignored. Opinion is substituted for facts. Guesswork is presented as investigation results. These cannot be the foundation for probable cause, much less a prima facie case with reasonable certainty of conviction. Simply repeating a conclusion, no matter how vehemently, does not make it true,” Lim added.
He added that the attempt to create a causal link between the vice president and alleged comments against the president “demands a gigantic leap in logic and abandonment of basic evidentiary principles.”
