Two senators on Monday, March 2 have expressed their readiness to serve as senator-judges in case the impeachment bid against Vice President Sara Duterte reaches the Senate.

Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook)

“An impeachment complaint from the people—if it is transmitted by the House and if it is heard by a Senate as an impeachment trial court, at its heart, that is a demand by the people for accountability from all of our highest elected officials,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros said in Filipino during an interview at the Senate.

Hontiveros also said it is imperative that the impeachment process is not reduced to any election.

“It should not be reduced to anything else, not even election. So it has value in and of itself and we will value it and we will preserve it here in the Senate,” she said.

Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito also said that as “senator-judges, impeachment is our constitutional duty. We will do our job.”

“But I hope, after all this, we don’t forget the more important fight: the development of the country, jobs, infrastructure, healthcare, and food security,” Ejercito said in a statement.

“I hope we don’t forget that other countries in our region are continuing to develop. The Philippines cannot continue to struggle while our neighbors are advancing. We have been left far behind by our neighboring countries,” he pointed out.

“Imagine our country with impeachment cases filed against the two highest officials of the land. What kind of picture does that paint on the international stage? We are losing much needed investments from Foreign Direct Investors to our ASEAN neighbors,” he lamented.

The senators made the remark after the House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice, declared the third and fourth impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte as sufficient in form.

This came weeks after the vice president announced her intention to run for president in the 2028 elections.