Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa said on Wednesday, Feb. 5, that he would be "apolitical" and "politically neutral" once he sits a Senator-judge who will decide on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Dela Rosa said this in a chance interview after the House of Representatives impeached Duterte during a plenary session on Wednesday. As of writing, the duly endorsed and verified complaint has arrived in the Senate.
"I'm not denying that I'm close to the Vice President, I'm not denying that I'm identified with the Dutertes but then again my decision will be made once I have studied the articles of impeachment at saka yung takbo ng (and the flow of the) trial to how the prosecution present their case," he said.
"As a sitting judge, I have to maintain my political neutrality. I should be apolitical at this time," he added.
Dela Rosa said that he already expected Duterte's impeachment because he had seen the effort for it to be accomplished.
A total of 215 House members signed a fourth impeachment complaint containing a reported six articles of impeachment for Vice President Duterte's ouster.
Only 102 signatures or one-third of the current number of sitting congressmen (306) were needed to effect the direct submission of the complaint from the House to the Senate.
Being the final session day, Dela Rosa said that most likely, the earliest that the articles of impeachment would be tackled in the plenary would be after the elections.
"Base sa napag-usapan kanina, parang yun ang narinig ko na (Based on what was discussed earlier, what I heard was) we can tackle that after the elections," he said.