Many are following the Senate impeachment trial hearings on the case against Vice President Sara Duterte. I hope you also watch via livestream or on free TV.

Just a couple of weeks or months ago, this trial was almost impossible or not supposed to happen due to many reasons. We should be thankful that it is now underway. The charges against the vice president, called Articles of Impeachment, are serious.

Any Filipino, regardless of how one voted, must take them seriously because there’s no other way for us to hear them in such a constitutional, legal and orderly fashion except through the impeachment trial.

Impeachment is part of the deal of running for and winning as president or vice president, or getting appointed as justice of the Supreme Court, the constitutional commissions, and the Ombudsman. Impeachment is our means to hold them accountable while in office. It is part of the Constitution which these officials swore to preserve, defend, and uphold. They cannot just want the powers of their constitutional offices, while at the same time act allergic or immune from the constitutional process that aims to check if they do something that’s anti-constitution.

The beautiful thing about the trial is that all of us have the opportunity to witness the trial for ourselves, live or recorded. The pundits (including myself), influencers, hecklers, and cheerleaders will all react and influence our opinions. But we can still think for ourselves, based on what we see on our devices or on TV.

How I wish the vice president would be convicted for all the articles of impeachment or at least one of them, and that she is meted the penalty of removal from office and get banned from public service. Others wish the opposite.

With the hearings starting this week, we are offered a scintillating preview of the days and weeks to come.

The prosecution are apparently ready to present witnesses and evidence, while the defense have posed many objections and has been tough in cross-examining the witnesses. Each camp has to do their best in front of the senator-judges, in order to convince and persuade. Both the prosecution and the defense have to do their utmost best and minimize or omit errors. We cannot have a good, credible trial with stupid prosecutors or lazy defense counsels.

We also see the senator-judges who have the power to render final judgment. We see Senate President Win Gatchalian and Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero, who are literally on top of the trial. We know they all cannot be impartial, because of dueling political loyalties, affiliations, and the divide of the minority and majority. But they have to show they are fair and open-minded. Watched by the vigilant public, and monitored by lawyers and legal eagles, the senator-judges cannot play with the constitutional process. The last time senator-judges did so blatantly, it sparked an uprising.

I don’t think there are stupid comments or questions by the prosecutors, defense counsels, or even the senator-judges. The open and public nature of the trial would allow the perceived “stupidity” to be exposed, answered and even turned into a positive by one party.

For instance, the doubts raised on the vice president’s livestreamed press conference where she supposedly made threats against the president. The extraordinarily impatient would call it stupid, because they know how Zoom calls and livestreams work. The senator-judges may not know, but they have the benefit of the wisdom of staff, consultants, children and grandchildren. They could ask or be told. At the same time, the prosecution can address the doubts in the subsequent hearings. Then, there’s the public and the media who could respond and raise everyone’s awareness.

I don’t mind the defense making endless objections, sometimes even halfway through a prosecutor’s question that is yet to be finished. So what? The Presiding Officer has to make a ruling. A senator-judge can play de facto defense counsel, but the Presiding Officer would have to make a ruling.

The trial has just started, and I wish the prosecution and defense utmost success, and I join others in watching the senator-judges and especially Messrs. Gatchalian and Escudero. I look forward to seeing the vice president appearing in the trial to face her accusers and answer questions. They have to show the system works in holding impeachable officials accountable. If any one of them messes with or sabotages the trial and the constitutional process, it would be to their peril.

Let’s all watch, study, read up, discuss, and decide.