Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero

While congressmen respect all of Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero's pronouncements and opinions on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment, they certainly don't have to agree with him.

And some solons like Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, Ako-Bicol Party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, and Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre have openly challenged Escudero's statements, in the interest of upholding the Constitution.  

Impeachment trial in July

In a radio interview Sunday, Feb. 23, Chua--one of the 11 congressmen-prosecutors tasked to convict the Vice President--disagreed with Escudero's recent statement that Senate impeachment trial would start in July after the convening of the 20th Congress

This will have been five months after the House of Representatives transmitted the impeachment complaint against the Vice President to the Senate last Feb. 5, or during the tail end of the 19th Congress. 

“Ang stand po kasi namin dito dapat ay agaran na po ‘yung pag-try ng impeachment dahil ito po ay inu-utos po ng ating Saligang Batas. Alam po ninyo, ang Saligang Batas po kasi ito po ay hindi ordinaryong batas. Ito po ang basic law of the land. At ang author po nito ay ang sambayanang Pilipino," Chua said.

(Our stand is that the impeachment trial should start immediately because that's what the Constitution says. You know, the Constitution is not an ordinary law. This is the basic law of the land. And the author is the Filipino people.)

Special session needed?

As for the notion that a special session called by the President is needed so the Senate can convene as an impeachment court, Chua said, “Ako po with all due respect, hindi po ako naninawala na kailangan po ng Presidente para ipatawag ang special session (As for me, with all due respect, I don't believe that the President needs to call for a special session)."

“Bakit po? Kasi mismo ang Saligang Batas na ang nagsasabi, [trial] ‘shall forthwith [proceed].(Why? Because the Constitution itself says, the trial shall forthwith proceed)," he added.

"Forthwith" has been interpreted by House members to mean "immediately".

House has tougher task than Senate 

Chua refuted Escudero’s claims that the House sat on the impeachment complaints for two months, and that now, congressmen are growing impatient over the delays in the impeachment trial. and are raring to start prosecuting the Vice President.

He explained the context of the submission of the fourth impeachment petition, signed by 215 House members, to the Senate hours before the adjournment of sessions last Feb. 5. The ensuing recess was to make way for the midterm polls on May 12.

According to Chua, the House couldn't simply afford to file a weak impeachment complaint against an impeachable character, who in this case is Vice President Duterte.

He noted that all three previous impeachment complaints against the lady official--all filed in December 2024--was found lacking or was weak in certain aspects. 

"Yung fourth impeachment complaint, is sinigurado po muna ng House na yung ipa-file namin ay solido ang ebedensya. At saka syempre tinignan din po namin na hindi po kami lalabag, ‘yun sa tinatawag namin natin na one-year ban,” Chua said. 

(As to the fourth impeachment complaint, the House first made sure that it had solid evidence. And we also made sure that wouldn't be violating the so-called one-year ban.)

“So ang Senate po kasi ang situation po nila iba, ‘yan po ay i-hear lang po kung ano ang na-filed. So kami po ang mag-establish ng impeachment complaint. So sila po, i-hear lang po nila, ay mas mahirap po mag-establish,” he explained. 

(So the Senate has a different situation, they just hear what is filed. We're the ones who need to establish the impeachment complaint. Their task is only to hear, it's tougher to establish a case.)

The Manila lawmaker pointed out that if they filed a useless impeachment petition, the Senate impeachment court would just dismiss it.

No need for EDSA-level clamor

Bongalon--who like Chua is part of the House prosecution team--and Acidre also had something to say when Escudero raised the apparent lack of public clamor for the Senate to start the impeachment trial.

“Hindi naman ibig sabihin na porke may public clamor or rallies in EDSA or anywhere else saka lang po tayo aaksyon sa isang bagay dahil nag-iingay ang taong bayan (It don't follow that we should only act if there's public clamor or when there are rallies in EDSA or anywhere else)," Bongalon said.

Acidre echoed this stand: “Anong clamor pa ba inaantay natin, naantay ba natin magkaroon ulit ng isang EDSA o magkaroon ng rally? (What clamor are we waiting for, are we waiting for another EDSA rally?)

"I don’t think it’s fair to the democratic process to have to wait for certain mobilizations to be able to discern the will of the people," he said.

Acidre said the number of House members who signed the complaint "reflects a sizable number of the Philippine population who are calling for the impeachment of the Vice President".