Vice President Sara Duterte (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

Nobody else but Vice President Sara Duterte is benefiting from the Senate's supposed foot-dragging on the lady official's pending impeachment trial.

Thus, said House Assistant Majority Leader Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre, who had been urging the Senate to launch the trial.

“To be honest, the one to benefit from this is the person in question, siyempre ang Pangalawang Pangulo (of course it's the Vice President),” Acidre said during a virtual press conference.

He said that as long as the Senate refuses to act on the impeachment case, Duterte is given more time to evade scrutiny and accountability.

“Habang hindi po dinidinig ang impeachment trial, eh mas lalo hong nagkakaroon ng sense of impunity ‘yung pagkawalang, parang hindi sineseryoso ‘yung mga nakita naming mga krimen o di kaya mga pagkukulang dun sa Kagawaran ng Edukasyon at sa tanggapan ng Pangalawang Pangulo,” he added.

(The longer the delay in the impeachment trial, the stronger the sense of impunity, that sense of trivializing the crimes and shortcomings that we saw in the Department of Education and Office of the Vice President. )

Acidre pointed out that the House of Representatives had already done its part by thoroughly investigating the allegations against Duterte and ensuring that the impeachment complaint was backed by evidence.

“Sabi nga nila, ‘di ba, justice delayed is justice denied, ‘di ba? At sa parte naman ng House eh, napakatagal na panahon ang ginugol natin sa pag-imbestiga sa mga pangyayari sa G

good government [committee] at kahit dun sa quad-comm,” he said.

(They say that justice delayed is justice denied, right? And on the part of the House, we invested a lot of time in the good government committee and even in the quad-comm in investigating the things that happened.)