Does Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero fear Vice President Sara Duterte?

Akbayan Party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña asked this question on Tuesday, June 3 as he called out the Senate chief for the continued delay in convening the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Natatakot ba siya kay Sara Duterte? (Is he afraid of Sara Duterte)" the outspoken Cendaña said in a statement Tuesday, June 3.

“Every day of delay sends the message that the Senate leadership is either afraid of Vice President Duterte, or worse, actively protecting her,” he claimed.

Cendaña--an endorser of the first impeachment complaint filed in the 19th Congress against Duterte--took issue with what he described as Escudero’s dismissive attitude.

According to him, Escudero appears to be treating the impeachment process as “a passing fashion trend".

“Hindi po ito (This is not) Paris fashion week. Convening the Senate as an impeachment court is a solemn constitutional duty, not a seasonal accessory you put on or discard depending on the political weather, or one’s personal agenda,” Cendaña said. 

“It is a uniform of duty worn whenever the Constitution demands it,” said the neophyte member of the House of Representatives.

Cendaña noted that according to a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey, nearly nine out of 10 Filipinos want Vice President Duterte to respond directly to the impeachment charges and clear her name of corruption allegations. 

The poll shows that 68 percent of respondents believe Duterte should definitely face the charges, with another 20 percent saying she probably should. In contrast, only 7 percent believe she should avoid the issue altogether.

“The public wants a trial. Even the impeached Vice President herself has signaled a willingness to face one. What’s stopping the Senate? Natatakot ba ang liderato kay Sara? (Is the leadership afraid of Sara?)” Cendaña said. 

Akbayan also dismissed Escudero’s claim that the impeachment complaint from the 19th Congress cannot be carried over to the 20th Congress as pure “legal fiction". 

Cendaña asserted that this argument had no basis in the Constitution, jurisprudence, or even the Senate’s own rules.

“The impeachment process is a constitutional mandate, not a legislative bill that expires at the stroke of midnight. Once the House transmitted the articles of impeachment, the Senate is constitutionally bound to convene as an impeachment court—no ifs, no buts. The delay, and now the flimsy excuses, only add insult to institutional injury,” said Cendaña.