Prosecution: Motion for Senate to order VP Sara to answer impeach raps is legal

The House prosecution panel’s motion asking the Senate to order Vice President Sara Duterte to answer the impeachment charges against her is legal, House prosecutor and Iloilo Representative Lorenz Defensor said.

On Monday the House prosecution panel led by House Minority Leader and 4Ps party-list Representative Marcelino Libanan submitted to the Senate an entry with motion to issue summons, a move that has since been shut down by Senate President Francis Escudero due to supposed lack of legal basis.

“Lagi naming irerespeto ang Senate president as the presiding judge ng impeachment court. At gagawa lang kami ng prosesong mga legal based on the existing Senate rules of impeachment,” Defensor said.

(We always respect the Senate President as the presiding judge of the impeachment court. And we will only take steps that are legal.)

“What we did was based on the Senate rules and the Senate secretary accepted or received the motion filed by Congressman Libanan yesterday. Wala kaming gagawing wala sa legal na pamamaraan, at igagalang namin, kasi katulad nga ng sinabi ko, ang isang judge sa isang trial court. Hindi mo naman pwede basta-basta mangbraso ka. You always have to respect,” Defensor added.

(We would not do anything that was not by legal means, and we will respect a judge of the trial court. You can't force it.)

Escudero has tentatively set the impeachment trial of the Vice President on July 30.

Libanan argued that the timeline should be moved up, citing Rule 7 of Resolution No. 39 dated March 23, 2011 or the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials: “a writ of summons should be issued to the person impeached, reciting or incorporating said articles, and notifying him/her to appear before the Senate upon a day and at a place to be fixed by the Senate and named in such writ, and to file his/her Answer to said articles of impeachment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt thereof; to which the prosecutors may reply within an extendible period of five days therefrom.”

Aside from invoking its own impeachment rules, Libanan pointed out that the Senate can act on the House prosecution’s motion because the chamber is working even while Congress is on recess as evidenced by the recent Senate inquiry into the March 11 arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

“Sinasabi nila baka hindi sila makapagtrabaho dahil break na ‘yung Senado. Pero apparently, nagkaroon po sila ng hearing last Thursday, yung committee ni Senadora Imee,” Libanan said.

(They say they cannot do it now because the session is on break, but apparently, the committee of Senator Imee Marcos conducted a hearing last Thursday.)

The House of Representatives impeached the Vice President last February 5, accusing her of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the constitution, graft and corruption and other high crimes based on the following seven Articles of Impeachment:

• conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez;
• malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;
• bribery and corruption in the DepEd during Duterte’s tenure by handing out cash to former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (Procurement Head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda;
• unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in the Vice President’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth where her wealth increased by four times from 2007 from 2017;
• involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City;
• destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder efforts, which include: boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos' resignation, obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas, threatening bodily harm against the First Couple and Romualdez, among others;
• the totality of the Vice President’s conduct as the second highest official of the land.

The Vice President has filed a petition before the Supreme Court challenging the impeachment.

Lawyers from Mindanao and others also asked the SC to direct the Senate to cease and desist from conducting the impeachment trial, arguing that it is based on a defective complaint. — BM, GMA Integrated News