Lanao del Sur 1st district Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong chided Senator Imee Marcos for her seemingly partisan remarks against Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment and the House of Representatives, when she should be positioning herself as a fair senator-judge.

But Adiong says Marcos is acting "more like a member of Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s defense team".

“Instead of preparing to objectively evaluate the evidence once the impeachment trial begins, Senator Imee Marcos appears to have already taken a partisan position by constantly attacking the House, questioning motives, and advancing narratives favorable to the Vice President,” Adiong said on Wednesday, May 13.

The House of Representatives impeached Vice President Duterte last Monday via an overwhelming vote of 257-25-9 (yes-no-abstain). That evening, the House ordered the transmittal of the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

It is now up to the senators--who will take on the role of senator-judges--to carry out an impeachment trial against the respondent Duterte "forthwith", as mandated by the 1987 Constitution.

“A senator-judge is expected to approach an impeachment trial with sobriety, fairness, and restraint. But what the public is seeing are repeated statements that sound less like judicial impartiality and more like advance talking points for the defense,” Adiong added.

The House assistant majority leader particularly rejected Marcos’ claim that the House was deliberately delaying the transmittal of impeachment records to the Senate.

“The articles of Impeachment are not a one-page resolution that can simply be stapled and handed over in an afternoon. These involve thousands of pages of annexes, transcripts, certifications, sworn statements, financial records, and documentary evidence that must be reproduced completely and accurately,” he said.

“This is not political theater. This is a constitutional process that requires precision, completeness, and due diligence. Would the senator prefer incomplete records and defective transmittals, only to later question the integrity of the process herself?” asked the Mindanao congressman.

Adiong stressed that the House was ensuring that all records transmitted to the Senate would be orderly, complete, and beyond legal challenge.

“We cannot trivialize due process simply to satisfy media sound bites or artificial political timelines,” he said.

The House leader also disputed Marcos’ repeated insinuations that lawmakers were motivated by monetary considerations, projects, or political favors in approving the impeachment complaint.

“For weeks now, Senator Imee Marcos has been training her guns on the House of Representatives, casually throwing around allegations of bribery, rewards, and political maneuvering tied to the impeachment vote. Yet up to now, she has not presented a single affidavit, witness, document, or admissible evidence to support these accusations,” underscored Adiong.

He said reducing the overwhelming impeachment vote into allegations of bribery and political favors was unfair both to lawmakers and to the millions of Filipinos they represent.

“To casually suggest that more than 250 lawmakers abandoned their conscience and constitutional duty in exchange for favors is deeply irresponsible and insulting not only to Congress, but also to the Filipino people who elected us,” Adiong said.