As election issues

Vice President Sara Duterte has palpably toned down her patented public fits of ranting despite facing very serious impeachment complaints. While a looming impeachment trial could spell political doom for her, VP Sara has been exuding a couldn’t-care-less demeanor lately. She goes visiting around the country on business-as-usual mode at the Office of the Vice President (OVP).

In fact, VP Sara announced she is flying again to the Netherlands to visit her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte. Currently cooling his heels in detention at The Hague, the 80-year-old erstwhile president is facing alleged crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to VP Sara, she would celebrate her birthday on May 31 at The Hague along with her mother, Elizabeth Zimmerman. VP Sara just got back to the Philippines last April 7 from her almost one month stay at The Hague. She flew to The Hague a few days after her father was flown there last March 11 to face trial on 43 counts of extrajudicial killings (EJKs) related to the bloody all-out war against illegal drugs during Duterte’s presidency.

She returned to the OVP after getting lawyers and organizing the preparations for the defense of her father. This, despite the fact that VP Sara herself is facing impeachment charges officially transmitted by the House of Representatives to the Senate much earlier, last Feb. 5. Although officially received before they adjourned on the last session day of the 19th Congress, its transmittal was not mentioned on the Senate floor.

In her latest provincial visit last Monday, VP Sara disclosed her lawyers told her they are “more than confident” of her acquittal in her impeachment case. She did not identify who among her battery of lawyers gave this very optimistic projection. But this obviously is enough assurance for VP Sara to plan ahead to fly back to The Hague and join her parents to celebrate together her 47th birthday.

But where is the confidence of VP Sara coming from that she could possibly get off unscathed from the impeachment case?

A legal counsel in one of the impeachment complaints, former Bayan Muna party-list representative Neri Colmenares, however, doused cold waters on VP Sara’s believing her lawyers’ confidence to win the impeachment case. Speaking at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Colmenares asserted they are the ones more than confident to convict VP Sara on “just one ground” of the Articles of Impeachment against her. As a public interest lawyer, Colmenares is also co-counsel in eight of the 43 EJK cases they filed at the ICC.

One of the House prosecutors during the impeachment trial of the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, Colmenares recalled they were able to convict the accused former Supreme Court (SC) magistrate on just one of the five Articles of Impeachment. “You only need one ground to convict. What happened to Corona, he was convicted in one ground only involving his bank accounts. The Senate did not continue the trial of the other grounds,” Colmenares cited.

In this case, Colmenares pointed to “betrayal of public trust” in the Article of Impeachment specifically filed by Bayan Muna on the alleged P125-million misuse of VP Sara while she was the DepEd secretary and concurrently a co-chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC). He noted with disbelief how VP Sara was able to spend such huge amount of confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) of the DepEd within 11 days. Supposedly, he cited, the CIF went to an “intel” project in December 2022 while government and private offices were on Christmas holiday.

“I am sure that she (VP Sara) will be convicted in the P125-million confidential funds of DepEd that was malversed and misused,” Colmenares stressed. He cited the other Articles of Impeachment filed by other complainants included the OVP’s own P612-million CIF expenditures with questionable liquidation documents. The CIF were allegedly disbursed to individuals with suspicious names like “Mary Grace Piattos,” among other names that took off from popular consumer brands.

VP Sara was actually accused in two other impeachment complaints filed separately by other groups. Along with the third complaint filed by Bayan Muna, all were consolidated into one as the fourth impeachment complaint. It was approved by over 200 out of 309 lawmakers.

VP Sara Duterte has since filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application for temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction. Through her lawyers, VP Sara declared the House committed grave abuse of discretion by “deliberately” freezing action on the first three impeachment complaints, then violated the constitutionally mandated one-year ban when the fourth complaint was signed by the chamber’s majority.

As of this writing though, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has been deflecting persistent demands from the House-constituted prosecution panel for the Senate “to start forthwith” the impeachment trial against the VP as mandated by constitutional provision on impeachment proceedings. Escudero, however, insisted the Senate would not be bullied into giving in to such demands. He, however, publicly committed to immediately convene the Senate as impeachment court when the 19th Congress resumes sessions on June 2.

“In any case, when they do not want, you cannot force them. But we will manifest, if ever the Senate started on June 2, to make the trial fast. They should finish it by June 30,” Colmenares urged. Since there are only two weeks of session days left before the present Congress adjourns sine die, he conceded the impeachment trial may cross over to the next set of newly elected senators.

Should this happen, Colmenares speculates VP Sara will likely question the jurisdiction of the new Senate impeachment court. The same template her father’s lawyers used to question the ICC jurisdiction on the EJKs.

Making his own comeback bid to Congress, Colmenares asked the Filipino voters to make the ICC and impeachment cases of the Dutertes as election issues for all senatorial wannabes.