Senators Frustrated by Delays in VP Duterte's Impeachment Trial

MANILA, Philippines — Having to deal with "obviously irrelevant" manifestations is testing the patience of senators – and possibly just about every observer of the trial of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said yesterday. In a post on X, Lacson also shared a lighthearted exchange with a fellow senator following the conclusion of last Wednesday’s trial, its sixth day. “A fellow senator-judge has jokingly asked me if he can move for the division of the house every time he feels annoyed by manifestations obviously irrelevant to the impeachment trial. I told him, a motion to adjourn will elicit more applause from the equally annoyed gallery,” Lacson said. Wednesday’s proceedings ended without any witness taking the stand as lengthy manifestations, including discussions on the timing of the National Bureau of Investigation’s probe on the multibillion-peso sports complex built for the 2019 Southeast Asian Games in Tarlac, took much of the time. Last weekend, Lacson proposed several measures to speed up the impeachment trial, including requiring witnesses scheduled for the week to remain at the Senate while proceedings are ongoing to avoid delays between testimonies. He said the proposal aims to maximize the limited trial schedule without compromising the presentation of evidence. Lacson stressed that Duterte, like any respondent in a regular court proceeding, is entitled to a speedy trial. He said improving the pace of the proceedings would help ensure the efficient conduct of the trial while preserving the integrity of the process. Senate impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol defended the decision to allow senators to raise concerns affecting the credibility of the court during the trial, saying there are limited opportunities for them to discuss such matters at other forums. “The presiding officer is concerned about every senator-judge and, as a matter of respect and comity, does not want to prevent them from speaking. They just have to respect the time periods allotted for their manifestations,” Tongol told reporters. Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano used Wednesday’s proceedings to express concerns that the NBI’s public announcement of its probe on 2019 SEA Games could affect the integrity of the impeachment court. “I think Sen. Alan Cayetano was pointing out that such statements could have a chilling effect on possible witnesses or parties, or even affect the judges as they decide or ask difficult questions of future witnesses,” Tongol said. He said the decision of the prosecution to drop six names from its list of witnesses for grave threat charge against Duterte or Article IV will not necessarily mean an earlier-than-expected conclusion of the trial. The trial is projected to cover 92 days. Rep. Gerville Luistro, lead prosecutor in the House of Representatives, said she hopes to see the trial reach its conclusion before Christmas “so that we will all be happy.” Meanwhile, former NBI chief Jaime Santiago who first investigated Duterte’s kill remarks, has maintained that “Operation Romanov” was a plot against President Marcos and his family. “‘Romanov’ first came out from the words of Mayor Baste (Duterte) in one of his Maisug rallies in January 2024,” Santiago told radio dzRH on Wednesday. “He told President Marcos that before going to bed, he should think about Romanov, and then there’s Mussolini, and then he should remember what happened to his family in 1986.” Romanov refers to the last imperial dynasty of Russia, members of which were executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries after their ouster in 1917. Benito Mussolini ruled fascist Italy from 1922 to 1943 before he was captured and killed by partisans in 1945. And 1986 was the year the Marcos family went into exile following the strongman’s ouster through people power revolution. — EJ Macababbad