LOOK: House spox Abante rocks 'forthwith' shirt ahead of Senate impeachment vote
At A Glance
- House of Representatives spokesperson, lawyer Princess Abante ditched her usual formal garb on Wednesday, Aug. 6 to send a message to the Senate via statement t-shirt.
House of Representatives Spokesperson Princess Abante (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)
House of Representatives spokesperson, lawyer Princess Abante ditched her usual formal garb on Wednesday, Aug. 6 to send a message to the Senate via statement t-shirt.
In a press conference, Abante wore a black t-shirt emblazoned with the word "forthwith", in obvious reference to the impeachment complaint lodged against Vice President Sara Duterte.
"Ang mandato ng Saligang Batas, try and decide forthwith; hindi dismiss forthwith (The mandate of the Constitution is to try and decide forthwith; not dismiss forthwith)," she said in her opening speech.
The 24-member Senate is expected to put the impeachment complaint to a vote later Wednesday on whether or not to dismiss it.
This action is in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's (SC) recent ruling wherein it declared the House-prepared impeachment raps against Vice President Duterte as unconstitutional. According to the SC, the complaint violated the one-year bar rule.
The House, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), has filed a motion for reconsideration (MR) on the SC decision. Despite this, the Senate appears gung-ho on voting on the impeachment during its Wednesday session.
For months now, the House has been jabbing the senator-judges for failing to hold a trial against the impeached Vice President, despite the complaint and articles of impeachment being transmitted to them over six months ago.
The 1987 Constitution says that an impeachment trial must proceed forthwith, which means immediately.