VP Impeachment 2.0

Unlike his predecessor, the new Senate chief has promised to act "forthwith" on any impeachment complaint transmitted to the chamber by the House of Representatives.

- ANA MARIE PAMINTUAN

This presumes that the impeachment will reach the transmittal stage.

A second attempt to remove Vice President Sara Duterte by impeachment is now widely expected next month. The VP herself knows it and says her camp is preparing for it.

But whether VP Impeachment 2.0 will prosper is a big if.

President Marcos has conveyed his change of heart on the issue, through his press officer, who indicated that he is no longer opposed to the impeachment and that as in the flood control mess - anyone accountable for corruption must be held to account.

How much weight BBM's new position carries remains to be seen.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who was among the senators who voted to archive the Articles of Impeachment during the 19th Congress, points out that there are now more openly pro-Duterte senators, thanks to the Alyansa debacle in the 2025 elections.

At the House, probers count at least 67 "cong-tractors," with more who could one day be implicated in anomalous flood control and other infrastructure projects as well as thievery in the national budget.

Gatchalian told The STAR's "Truth on the Line" last Tuesday that the crackdown on public works corruption is affecting congressional sentiment toward both President Marcos and the removal by impeachment of his constitutional successor.

There's also that ruling of the Supreme Court in connection with the VP's impeachment by the 19th Congress. The unanimous ruling should warrant the SC justices' impeachment for unilaterally rewriting the Constitution - except they have, through their ruling based partly on wrong information, made their impeachment nearly impossible.