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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider Impeachment court spox denies delay in proceedings, cites key actions taken

Impeachment court spox denies delay in proceedings, cites key actions taken

Published Jun 17, 2025 07:06 pm

At A Glance

  • The Senate Impeachment Court defended its swift progress in the first week of proceedings and rebuked critics for unfairly questioning the court's actions instead of filing the necessary pleadings through proper legal channels.
The Senate Impeachment Court has made significant strides in the ongoing impeachment proceedings, completing key actions within just a week of its convening, according to its official spokesperson.
Mark Balmores (MB file photo)
Mark Balmores (MB file photo)
In a statement issued Tuesday, June 17, Atty. Regie Tongol, spokesperson for the Senate Impeachment Court, rejected accusations of foot-dragging, emphasizing that the court has already taken five major steps in the proceedings. These include convening the court, adopting rules and suppletory rules, ordering compliance from the House of Representatives to settle jurisdictional questions, issuing summons to Vice President Sara Duterte, and receiving the entry of appearance from defense lawyers.
“Claims of foot-dragging is baseless as actions speak louder than words,” Tongol said, adding that any seasoned litigator would understand the ease of filing motions such as clarifications, manifestations, compliance, or entries of appearance.
However, he pointed out that seven days have passed since the court first convened, and yet none of these filings have been made by the parties claiming to seek such action.
“If in small and simple matters they are already slow to act and it takes them a week to file, what more with more substantial motions or filings?” he asked.
Tongol also criticized the tactic of questioning the court’s proceedings in public rather than through proper legal channels.
“It is disrespectful for litigants to question the court with the end goal of merely discrediting it instead of doing their job to have their complaints ventilated in the proper forum,” he said.
He urged those involved in the proceedings to focus on filing the necessary pleadings and not waste time attacking the court publicly.
“If they feel strongly about the actions of the Court then they should avail of their remedies in law and not air out grievances in the court of public opinion,” he added.
“If their goal is to speed up the process, then they should help speed it up themselves by doing and filing what needs to be done instead of spending their time attacking the court,” he said in Filipino.

Related Tags

impeachment court impeachment complaint Vice President Sara Duterte House of Representatives
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