'Edsa forthwith' fizzles out

Before both chambers of the 19th Congress adjourned sine die last week, the Senate started the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, albeit belatedly.

- MARICHU A. VILLANUEVA

Of course, Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero and like-minded senators will throw the blame to their counterparts in the House of Representatives for having caused the delay in the first place.

The debate will go as far back as December last year when the first three impeachment cases against VP Sara were filed one after the other. But none of the three complaints reached the office of the Speaker of the House. Instead, a fourth impeachment complaint was approved in plenary by the House. It was immediately transmitted to the Senate secretariat at the closing hours of sessions on Feb. 5. The Senate, for reasons still unclear up to now, did not even bother to acknowledge official receipt of the seven Articles of Impeachment.

Originally, Escudero promised to take up the impeachment complaint upon resumption of sessions last June 2. Subsequently, Escudero announced the Senate would take up the impeachment on June 11 instead. The Senate chief justified the new date, citing the need to pass into law pending urgent bills in the remaining two weeks of session.

After heated debates at the floor, the senators agreed to move forward on the impeachment proceedings. But not after bitter exchanges of words, one of which nearly erupted into a fist fight. So on the last hours of the third and final regular session, the Senate convened as an impeachment court with Escudero first taking his oath as presiding officer.

The next day, it was the turn of the rest of the senator-judges to take their oaths before Escudero. Effectively, the 19th Congress officially acquired jurisdiction over the impeachment case, with the 23 members of the Senate led by Escudero sitting as senator-judges and the 11-man panel from the Lower House as prosecutors.