Unlike his immediate predecessor, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has vowed to “act with dispatch, forthwith” on any new impeachment case that might be elevated to the present Upper Chamber. Sotto committed this amid reported plans by certain groups to initiate a new complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte as soon as the one-year ban on filing an impeachment case against her lapses on Feb. 6.
Reacting to Sotto, Bicol Saro Rep. Terry Ridon surmised the senators can start immediately the process of bringing out from the Senate archives the Articles of Impeachment against VP Duterte. At the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum last Wednesday, Ridon noted the ruling administration bloc in the present 20th Congress remains hopeful the Supreme Court (SC) will resolve soon the pending motion for reconsideration (MR) of the Lower House.
Once the SC resolution is handed down on or before the expiry of the one-year ban on new impeachment complaints on VP Duterte, Ridon said the impeachment trial can immediately proceed. Once the “unarchiving” is done as the first step, Ridon explained, then the Senate can proceed with the impeachment trial as the “logical consequence” if a favorable SC ruling on the House MR will come out.
Ridon specifically referred to the impeachment complaint approved by the defunct 19th Congress that was elevated to the Upper Chamber before its sessions were adjourned Feb. 5 last year. A total of 215 House members of the 19th Congress signed the fourth impeachment complaint against VP Duterte.
The Upper Chamber, headed then by Senate president Francis “Chiz” Escudero, came under intense criticisms for not acting “forthwith” on the impeachment complaint as mandated under the 1987 Constitution. Thus, the pending VP Duterte’s impeachment case crossed over to the 20th Congress. Then as the Senate minority leader, Sotto joined three other senators in voting against archiving VP Duterte’s impeachment case.
This was after the Supreme Court (SC) ruling on July 25 that favored the petition of VP Duterte’s lawyers. In a unanimous vote of 13-0, the SC ruling penned by associate justice Marvic Leonen set aside the VP’s impeachment case due to constitutional infirmities that attended its approval by the House of Representatives in the past Congress.
With a supermajority vote of 19 senators, the impeachment case of VP Duterte has been archived since Aug. 6 last year. Bills and matters sent to Senate archives merely set them aside for the meantime, until otherwise pulled out of the Chamber’s records if decided and approved upon by a majority vote also.
The backlash though on Escudero ended in his being removed and replaced by Sotto as the new Senate chief. “The ball will now be with the Senate on what to do once the MR of the House is approved by the Supreme Court. It means it will be the Senate’s prerogative at this point to unarchive the proceedings,” Ridon pointed out.
So as far as Ridon is concerned, it is not game over yet on the pending original impeachment case against VP Duterte. A lawyer by profession, Ridon failed to state though why he believes the VP impeachment case is not dead despite the unanimous ruling reached by the 15-man SC.
Ridon, however, doubted reported plans by anti-administration groups to initiate also an impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) related to the “trillion pesos” of public funds lost to alleged “ghost” flood control projects. It was Caloocan City Rep. Edgar Erice who earlier revealed about purported impeach plans against PBBM related to the alleged “ghost” flood control projects that went into the General Appropriations Act (GAA) in 2023, 2024 and in 2025.
Although he belongs with the House minority bloc, Ridon chairs the House committee on public accounts, which is among the three House committees that earlier looked into the flood control scandal. Erice belongs with the opposition bloc as the House deputy minority leader. The Caloocan City lawmaker first broached this supposed impeachable offense of PBBM during our talks with him on the PolitikoTalks show on the Bilyonaryo News Channel last Jan. 2.
Without naming those behind it, Erice disclosed the possible impeachment complaint against PBBM can be initiated for his having approved and signed into law the GAAs during the first three years of his administration. Citing “betrayal of public trust” as among the constitutional grounds for impeachment, Erice insisted PBBM could be held accountable for these budget laws in the past three years that the defunct 19th Congress approved for enactment.
But the supposed impeachable offense of PBBM stands on loose ground.
Past presidents of the country could be held liable also for signing into law the budgets approved by the Congresses past if we follow the logic of Erice.
Ridon has not seen or is being approached for the purported impeachment complaint against PBBM. For now, Ridon believes his House colleagues in the present Congress are gearing up for the next round of impeachment on VP Duterte.
“If it (SC ruling) is unfavorable to the House, the House will have to adopt the new standard being given by the Supreme Court on how to conduct impeachment proceedings,” he stressed.
Of course, Ridon reiterated the Lower House is ready to respect and follow whatever the final SC decision would be.
By the same argument, Ridon admitted the new prescribed impeachment procedures spelled out in the SC ruling on VP Duterte’s case will be applied in case another impeachment complaint will be initiated against VP Duterte and also against PBBM in the Lower House.
“So, we will follow it (SC ruling on VP Duterte impeachment case) obviously in due course if there is an impeachment to be filed against any impeachable government officials,” Ridon conceded.
“If the MR is not resolved, then we adopt the old rule. Maybe, people will go to the Supreme Court again to question it,” Ridon quipped.
The basic requirements of due process of law delays service of justice here in our country, as it always ends up overdue.