Sara Duterte's Senate allies fail to junk impeachment case before trial

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte's allies in the Senate failed in a bid on Tuesday, June 10, to kill her impeachment case before the formal trial could even begin.

Sen. Ronald dela Rosa attempted to junk the impeachment complaint during the plenary session, but his effort collapsed as Senate President Chiz Escudero ruled to proceed with the convening of the court — signaling the official start to the trial. 

Escudero's move to proceed with convening the court a day earlier than scheduled comes after he has been hounded by criticism for allegedly stalling the process, with groups accusing him of ignoring the Senate's constitutional mandate to proceed "fortwith" with Duterte's trial. 

It was Dela Rosa's motion to dismiss the impeachment case itself that prompted the Senate president to make the ruling and formally convene the impeachment court. 

Delaying tactics?

Senators were scheduled to take their oaths at 4 p.m. Tuesday and officially constitute themselves as an impeachment court. But Dela Rosa insisted on delivering a privilege speech first. 

The move did not sit well with Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, who reminded his colleagues that they reached a hard-fought compromise yesterday to have the oath-taking take place Tuesday afternoon. 

The original schedule set by Escudero was supposed to have all aspects of the opening of the trial — the oath-taking, convening of the court and presentation of articles of impeachment — take place on June 11, days before the 19th Congress adjourns sine die on June 14.

But Pimentel gave way to Dela Rosa after being urged to do so by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano.

Bato's speech

In his 20-minute address, Dela Rosa argued that the impeachment complaint was flawed because the House of Representatives had allegedly delayed action on it.

He concluded by formally moving to dismiss the complaint — marking the first attempt by Duterte's Senate allies to kill the case on the floor.

Sen. Robin Padilla — another ally of the vice president — immediately responded by shouting "Allahu Akbar!" across the chamber in an apparent show of solidarity.

Padilla and Dela Rosa both previously submitted resolutions seeking to dismiss the impeachment proceedings.

RELATED: Senate draft resolution to kill VP Sara's impeachment 'unconstitutional' — solons

Dela Rosa then tried to yield the floor to Sen. Bong Go for another speech, but Escudero quickly suspended the session.

Upon resumption, Sen. Joel Villanueva objected to Dela Rosa's motion and pointed out that the upper chamber "lacks the power" to junk or dismiss an impeachment complaint. 

"My only concern here is we have not yet convened as an impeachment court," Villanueva said.

"This representation believes that we have no constitutional authority as legislative body to dismiss an impeachment complaint," he added.

Following procedure

In the end, Escudero ruled that the Senate must first convene as an impeachment court before acting on Dela Rosa's motion. 

The senators then changed into their court robes before taking their oaths.

During the approval of the rules, the Senate president said: "It is to be noted that we did not change any of the provisions of the Rules of Procedure because there is already a pending impeachment complaint and the chair would not want to change the rules in the middle of the game, so to speak."

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