Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua wants to give Senator Alan Peter Cayetano an opportunity to do the right thing and not derail the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

This, as Cayetano--the Senate President coming into Monday's plenary session--is perceived to be pro-Duterte.

Chua, a member of the 11-strong House prosecution panel, said in a DZBB radio interview Sunday, May 17 that he expects the Senate to remain impartial and avoid politics when it comes to exacting accountability from the impeachment respondent.

“Inaasahan po natin na hindi magbabago ang kanilang pagtingin at hindi nito maaapektuhan ang proseso dahil unang-una po, ito ay kanilang constitutional mandate,” Chua said.

(We expect that their perspective will not change and that this will not affect the process because, first of all, this is their constitutional mandate.)

“Inaasahan naman din po natin na ang ating bagong Senate president bilang isang abogado ay mataas ang kanyang paggalang sa ating Konstitusyon. Siguro bigyan muna natin ng benefit of the doubt ang ating bagong halal na Senate president,” he added of his fellow lawyer.

(We also expect that our new Senate president, being a lawyer, will have a high regard for our Constitution. Perhaps we should first give the benefit of the doubt to our newly elected Senate president.)

To his credit, it was Cayetano who announced last week that the Senate would convene as an impeachment court at 3 p.m. Monday, May 18. This was after the upper chamber received the voluminous impeachment documents--including the articles of impeachment against Duterte--from the House of Representatives.

But convening is different from starting the actual trial--something that has been pointed out by congressmen.

Thirteen senators elected Cayetano as Senate president on May 11, effectively unseating Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and forming a new majority bloc largely composed of known Duterte allies.

The leadership change has since fueled public concern over the likelihood of Vice President Duterte’s conviction, considering that a two-thirds vote, or 16 of the 24 senator-judges, is constitutionally required to remove her from office and permanently disqualify her from holding public office.

When asked whether the prosecution panel now faces greater difficulty in securing the votes needed for conviction, Chua noted that previous impeachment trials also began without a clear majority favoring conviction.

If anything, senator-judges can be swayed by the strength of the case during the actual trial.

"Ang pagkakaalam ko po noong panahon ni [Supreme Court] Chief Justice [Renato] Corona, nagsimula po sila na pipito lamang ang senador na sang-ayon dito. Pero nung nagkabotohan na, nung naipresenta na lahat ng ebidensya, umabot na siya ng 20,” recalled the Manila solon.

(As far as I know, during Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s time, they started with only seven senators in favor. But when the voting came, after all the evidence was presented, it reached 20.)

Chua said the public--especially the media--play a very big role in monitoring the developments of the impeachment trial.

"Kasi po ito lamang ang paraan para makakuha po tayo ng hustisya na patas (Because this is the only way we can achieve fair justice)," he said.