It would be a bad look for the Senate to dismiss the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte through a mere resolution and without even bothering to hold a trial.
Thus, said Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, one of the 11 House prosecutors in the impeachment case, in a chance interview on Wednesday, June 4.
Chua was asked about the existence of the rumored resolution at the Senate, which was supposed to hold the impeachment trial against the second highest official of the land.
The recently reelected solon said he wasn't aware of the contents of such resolution, but had an opinion about it nonetheless.
"Hindi ko rin alam laman nung resolution. Basta ako, ang opinyon ko dyan, is ang constitutional mandate ng Senate is to conduct the trial (I also don't know the contents of that resolution. But my opinion on that is, the Senate’s constitutional mandate is to conduct the trial)," Chua said.
"We're just performing our constitutional duty. So syempre kung ito naman ay babalewalain by mere resolution, tingin ko parang hindi naman maganda (So of course if this would be dismissed by mere resolution, I think that wouldn't be good)," he noted.
The Manila solon says the roles of the House of Representatives and the Senate when it comes to the impeachment proceedings are clear.
"Pagkakaalam ko dyan eh under the Constitution, ang trabaho ng Senate is to hear, di ba? Ang sa amin naman is to prosecute. So hindi ko naiisip kung pano nila ididismiss yan without first conducting the trial and that is their constitutional mandate."
(Based on what I understand, under the Constitution, the role of the Senate is to hear the impeachment, right? Meanwhile, our role is to prosecute. So I don’t see how they can dismiss this without first conducting the trial and that is their constitutional mandate.)
Asked if dismissing the impeachment complaint via mere resolution would be unconstitutional, Chua answered in the affirmative.
"For me, that is unconstitutional. They're violating their constitutional mandate," he said.
In Congress (House and Senate), a resolution that gains majority support in plenary gets adopted by the chamber.
The House transmitted the impeachment complaint, along with the seven articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte, way back on Feb. 5.
The Senate was supposed to facilitate the reading of the articles of impeachment in plenary on Monday, June 2, but it postponed it to June 11, the last session day of the 19th Congress.