Analysts: VP trial delay could derail removal
By Adrian H. Halili, Reporters
DELAYING the impeachment trial of Vice-President (VP) Sara Duterte-Carpio to July could frustrate the push to remove her from office, according to political analysts.
“If the Senate is serious about settling this business sooner than later, nominally they should,” Hansley A. Juliano, a political science lecturer at the Ateneo de Manila University, said in a Facebook Messenger chat at the weekend.
“There’s political risk doing it after the May elections since more people who are pro-Duterte getting into the Senate could be bad for the plan,” he added.
In a letter to senators last week, Senate President Francis G. Escudero proposed to start the trial on July 30, after newly elected stake their oath as impeachment judges on July 29.
“This current setup essentially means the midterm elections become a referendum to whether Sara should indeed be impeached or not,” Mr. Juliano said.
The House of Representatives on Feb. 5 impeached Ms. Duterte on charges of violating the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption and other high crimes shortly before Congress went on a four-month break for the 2025 midterm elections. Lawmakers will reconvene for a two-week session on June 2.
The impeachment complaint was filed and signed by more than 200 congressmen, more than the one-third legal requirement before it can be sent to the Senate, which will try her as an impeachment court. Under the 1987 Constitution, several congressmen will serve as impeachment prosecutors.
Michael Henry Ll. Yusingco, a senior research fellow at the Ateneo Policy Center, said preparatory work for the impeachment trial could be completed within the month.
The Senate president has created an administrative support group that would prepare and help the Senate when it convenes as an impeachment court.
“The impeachment trial can therefore start on April 1 or even earlier,” he said in a Messenger chat. “Starting it on July 30 disregards the constitutional command [to start proceedings promptly]. It diminishes the Senate as an institution.”
Opposition senators Aquilino L. Pimentel III and Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel earlier urged Mr. Escudero to call for a caucus where they could explain their stance on the trial.
Mr. Yusingco said there is no need to call for a special session because “the command to commence comes from the Constitution itself.”
The ouster charges against Ms. Duterte included seven articles of impeachment such as allegations of plotting the assassination of the President, misusing secret funds, amassing unexplained wealth and committing acts of destabilization.
