VP Sara asks SC to halt impeachment trial; prosecutors present threat videos

VICE-PRESIDENT (VP) Sara Duterte-Carpio has asked the Supreme Court (SC) to halt her impeachment trial at the Senate, arguing that Senator Francis Joseph “Chiz” G. Escudero’s authority to preside over the impeachment court remains under constitutional challenge. In an urgent motion filed on July 6, she asked the high court to keep the status quo and prevent the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, from proceeding with the trial, receiving evidence, ruling on objections or issuing further orders until the constitutional issue is resolved. “A respondent in an impeachment case is entitled not merely to a trial, but to a trial before the constitutionally proper impeachment tribunal, presided over by an officer whose authority is lawfully derived,” according to the 21-page lawsuit. Ms. Duterte and several of her lawyers argued that developments during the opening day of the trial underscored the importance of resolving the validity of the June 3 Senate proceedings, during which senators amended the impeachment rules to allow the election of a presiding officer. They cited Senator Alan Peter S. Cayetano’s objection that the Constitution contemplates only the Senate president presiding over impeachment trials, except when the President is the respondent, in which case the Chief Justice presides. The motion argued that Mr. Escudero’s authority remains under challenge in a separate petition before the SC questioning the June 3 amendment to the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials. The Vice-President claimed the amendment was adopted without a quorum, without the one-day advance notice required under Senate rules and by the Senate acting in its legislative capacity rather than as an impeachment court. They warned that allowing the trial to proceed before the constitutional issue is settled risks invalidating subsequent proceedings should the June 3 amendment later be struck down. The petitioners also asked the tribunal to consolidate the latest motion with the pending petitions challenging the June 3 Senate proceedings, arguing that the issue has become prejudicial to the impeachment trial. THREAT EVIDENCE PRESENTED Meanwhile, the Senate impeachment court allowed prosecutors on Tuesday to present excerpts from Ms. Duterte’s 2024 online briefings containing her threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., rejecting the defense’s request to play the entire two-hour video. The House prosecution panel presented National Bureau of Investigation Senior Agent John Mark Sta. Ana Calilung as its first witness for Article IV of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Ms. Duterte of grave threats against the President, First Lady Louise Araneta-Marcos and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez. House prosecutor and Iloilo Rep. Lorenz R. Defensor said the prosecution’s evidence includes the Vice-President’s own public statements. “The evidence presented in this article are not just derived from testimonies and authenticated documents, but from the Vice-President’s own words, own conduct, her very own public admissions,” he said. The defense repeatedly questioned Mr. Calilung’s qualifications and objected to the authenticity of several documents, but Mr. Escudero overruled the objections and allowed the testimony to continue. He also advised both parties to present original documents in succeeding hearings whenever possible. The court later allowed prosecutors to play selected video clips, with Mr. Escudero saying each party has the right to determine how it presents its evidence and that the court would not interfere with that strategy. Among the videos presented was Ms. Duterte’s Nov. 23, 2024 online briefing, in which she said she had instructed someone to kill Mr. Marcos, the First Lady and Mr. Romualdez if she were assassinated. Prosecutors also presented another clip in which she referred to “cutting his head,” which Mr. Calilung testified was directed at the President. DUTERTE SKIPS HEARING Ms. Duterte arrived at the Senate before Tuesday’s hearing to meet her lawyers but did not attend the proceedings. Her counsel said she had official engagements and was represented by the defense team, adding that her personal appearance was not required under the impeachment rules. Mr. Escudero agreed that the respondent need not personally attend proceedings as long as she is represented by counsel. Analysts said Ms. Duterte’s decision to skip the second day of the trial despite appearing at the Senate might be legally permissible but could undermine her political standing. “It may be legally sound, but it’s politically flawed,” Carl Marc L. Ramota, a professor at the Department of Social Sciences of the University of the Philippines Manila, told BusinessWorld via Facebook Messenger. Jean S. Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman, said the Vice-President appeared to be trying to shape public perception rather than strengthen her legal defense. “She wants to be perceived as nonchalant in the face of the trial,” she said via Viber. “The fact that she went there to meet with her lawyers and not to attend the trial tells us that she wants to be seen and have media mileage but at the same time, she wants to make the trial seem unimportant.”