Marcos not in doubt over Escudero's possible handling of VP Sara impeachment
The President said he will support whoever the Senate chooses
President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr. and Senate President Francis 'Chiz' Escudero (File photos)
President Marcos sees no issue on the possibility of Senator Francis "Chiz" Escudero being selected as the presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Marcos said this, dismissing the criticisms Escudero received during his previous role as presiding judge over the impeachment trial of Duterte last year.
"Those are opinions. I don't think that reflects in any way on how he will do," Marcos said in an interview in Russia.
"As a matter of fact, the rules that were adopted by the Senate were the rules that Senator Chiz wrote during the last year's, when they were handling the last year's impeachment complaint," he added.
"So, in terms of his ability to be able to run the trial, I don't think that's in doubt," Marcos further said.
The President also pointed out that the outcome of last year's supposed trial, which did not push through, was halted due to a Supreme Court ruling.
The ruling, he said, has nothing to do with the then Senator.
"If you remember, the reason that the impeachment trial last year came to stop was because of the Supreme Court decision. And that had nothing to do with Senator Chiz," Marcos said.
Marcos further stressed that he will support whoever the Senate elects as presiding officer, as long as the selection is proper and constitutional.
"I will support whoever the Senate chooses. As long as the process that they undertook in making the choice is proper, is legal, is constitutional, then that's fine with me," Marcos said.
The Chief Executive also expressed hope that with the Senate's new leadership, the upper chamber moves away from chaos.
"I will definitely do whatever I can to world together with the legislature, the Senate in particular, to make sure that things go smoothly and that we move away from the chaos that we have been seeing in the Senate. And I hope the new reorganization will achieve that," Marcos said.
The Senate will formally choose a presiding officer for the impeachment on July 6.
According to Sen. Panfilo “Ping” Lacson, the new Senate majority bloc has agreed to designate Escudero to be the presiding officer in the impeachment trial of Duterte.