Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero said on Sunday, February 23 that the Senate cannot hold a special session on its own.
Escudero said this in an interview on Radio DZBB, in response to Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III's recent statement wherein he stated that the Senate can call for a special session on its own to act on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment complaint.
Looking at both the Constitution and the Senate's existing rules, Pimentel said that they did not get the impression that they should be in session as a legislative body.
"Bago yata yun. Di pwedeng mag special session ang senado na kami lang, may proseso, may procedure at may mga basehan bago magpatawag ng isang special session (That seems to be new. The Senate can't hold a special session on its own. There are processes, procedures, and criteria that must be met before calling a special session)," Escudero said.
Pimentel also said that he would speak to Escudero to ask for an all-member caucus to discuss Duterte's impeachment trial.
In reaction to this, Escudero said tongue-in-cheek that a caucus is not a special session that can convene an impeachment court.
He reiterated, however, that they cannot start with the trial or convene the impeachment court since Congress is not in session. He recalled that in the past, such as in the impeachment of late former Chief Justice Renato Corona, the Senate at that time was in session but did not convene as an impeachment court until after the Christmas break.
This was also the case with the impeachment of Merceditas Gutierrez. Escudero said that the Senate had three days in session at that time, but only convened after the recess or one and a half months.
"Ito finile sa amin dalawang oras bago kami magrecess tapos sasabihin nila dinedelay at di namin ginagawa yung trabaho namin? (This was filed to us with only two hours left before we were about to go on recess, and now we're being accused of delaying it and not doing our job?)" he said.
"Kung pagababasehan natin yung nagdaang impeachment complaint, eh sinunod lamang naman yung recess...Ayoko tratuhing espesyal itong impeachment complaint ni Vice President Duterte. Porket unang Vice President na maiimpeach, porket si Duterte yan. Dapat yung pagtrato namin pareho din ng pagtrato ng Senado sa mga nauna (If we base it on the previous impeachment complaints, they just followed the schedule of the recess... I don't want to treat Vice President Duterte's impeachment complaint as something special. Just because it's the first Vice President to be impeached, or because it's Duterte. We should handle it the same way the Senate has dealt with previous cases)," he added.
In response to critics who are saying that the Senate could have extended its session day to Feb. 7 after receiving the verified impeachment complaint on Feb. 5, the day that session was adjourned, Escudero said: "Kung di naman namin ginagawa noon, bakit bigla naming gagawin ngayon? (If we weren't doing it before, why would we suddenly start doing it now?)."
Escudero has since maintained that the Senate would start with the impeachment proceedings by June 2, once the session resumes.
Former Senate leader Franklin Drilon, for his part, expressed surprise over suggestions that the Senate president can call the Upper Chamber to a special session.
"I cannot really understand the insistence that SP can call the Senate to a special session to consider the articles of impeachment," Drilon said when sought about the issue.
"Only the President can do that. Or, that the convening of the Senate into impeachment court is automatic. That is not authorized under the Constitution," he added.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, in a separate interview on DZBB also said the Senate cannot decide on its own regarding the impeachment.
"Dahil kailangan namin ng agreement o consent ng Speaker para magconvene kami ng special session. (Because we need the agreement or consent of the House Speaker for us to convene into a special session)," Gatchalian said.
"Pangalawa, may mga grounds, mahigpit ung rules kung ano ang mga grounds para mag-special session kami. Hindi kasama doon ang impeachment (Secondly, there are grounds and the rules are strict on the grounds for us to hold a special session. That does not include impeachment)," he said.
Gatchalian pointed out that the former impeachment cases were all read during a Senate plenary session and the information was introduced formally.
"But in this particular case, dahil nga walang sesyon, ibinigay nga huling araw, hindi na nabasa on the floor (because there was no session, and it was given during the last day of session, it was not read on the floor)," he pointed out.
"Yung mga huling impeachment ibinigay one day before the break, o maaga binigay kaya nabasa agad sa floor (The previous impeachment cases were submitted to the Senate one day before the break, or much earlier, that's why it was read immediately on the floor)," he added. (With reports by Hannah Torregoza)