Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero on Monday, February 10, confirmed that all the 215 signatures in the verified impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte that was submitted by the House of Representatives to the Upper Chamber are all “wet signatures.”
Escudero said this was the outcome of the initial visual perusal done by the Senate.
“The initial scrutiny of the document, using a visual perusal, is that all 215 are wet signatures,” Escudero said in Filipino during a press briefing.
“Visually, na verify na lahat ng 215 signatures kung wet signature nga. Tiningnan yan ng hindi bababa sa apat na tao, na hindi bababa sa dalawang beses kada isang tao (All 215 signatures were verified if these are indeed wet signatures. Not less than four people checked it and was perused twice at least by one person),” he pointed out.
Moreover, he said, the Senate is in the process of procuring an Artificial Intelligence (AI) app that can determine whether a signature is a wet signature or an e-signature.
“Pero dagdag dun, nagpo- procure pa kami ng isang app. May AI app na makikita kung wet signature nga ba ang nasa papel or kung ito ay e-signature. (Additionally, we are still procuring an app. There’s an AI app that can check if the signature on a paper is a wet signature or an e-signature). Just to further validate,” he stressed.
Also, according to Escudero, each senator has been given a copy of the impeachment complaint.
A copy of the document has also been posted on the official website of the Senate of the Philippines.
“Nabigyan na ng kopya ng impeachment complaint ang bawat member ng Senado; uploaded na rin sa website ng Senado ang impeachment complaint, kabilang ang mga annexees nito (Each member of the Senate has already been given a copy of the impeachment complaint; it has also been uploaded in the website of the Senate, including the annexes),” the Senate chief said.
Escudero said the Senate has deemed it fit to publicize the impeachment complaint since it is considered a public document.
“Tinuturing namin itong public document at marapat lamang na isapubliko. Hindi naman ito public crime na tinatawag na (kung saan) dapat limitado lamang ang makakakita or makakabasa (We consider this a public document and therefore, should be made public. It is not a public crime that should be entitled to a limited audience),” he pointed out.
According to Escudero, the Senate has to exercise due diligence in checking the veracity of the signatures before proceeding.
“Ayoko naman na masisi kami na di namin ginampanan yung simpleng trabaho namin (I don’t want us to be accused of not doing our job),” he said.
“Simple lang naman trabaho namin, tingnan kung wet signature nga yung dahil dapat verified yun sa harap ng (House) Secretary General at tingnan kung yung 215 or higit sa one-third ay mga kongresista nga ba talaga o hindi na (Our job is simple, that is to check if it’s a wet signature because that should be verified before the secretary general and check if it is indeed 215 or one-third of the congressmen or no longer one),” the lawmaker reiterated.
Crossing party lines, 215 House members signified their support for the fourth impeachment complaint against the vice president on the last session day before Congress adjourned for the 2025 midterm elections.
The Senate received the copy of the Articles of Impeachment from the House last February 5, Wednesday in the late afternoon.
But the Senate adjourned its session without tackling the impeachment documents.
Escudero insists the Senate will not rush the impeachment proceedings adding that the trial proper of the vice president may likely happen in the 20th Congress.