Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero Speaks on VP Sara Duterte’s Impeachment Trial Schedule
CHIZ ESCUDERO – The Senate President said that the proposed timeline for the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte needs the approval of the senators.
The proposed schedule for the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte which was recently released by Senate Pres. Escudero gained different reactions from the public. The trial is set to commence on July 30 as the upper chamber is on a session break now.
While other people want the impeachment trial to start immediately, there are also individuals who rally behind Vice Pres. Sara Duterte in her impeachment battle. Her brother, Davao City Mayor Baste Duterte, believes that the VP Sara will get past the impeachment issues.
According to Mayor Baste, the impeachment case against his sister is allegedly just a smokescreen of the Marcos administration to cover up the issues surrounding the 2025 national budget. The Davao City Mayor also stressed that the Vice President is “unbothered” by the issue.
Mayor Baste Duterte is confident that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte will win the impeachment battle as she has a strong legal team which includes their father, former Pres. Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and her father-in-law, Lucas Carpio Jr.
Previously, Senator Risa Hontiveros expressed her support on the stand of Sen. Koko Pimentel that there is nothing that stops the Senate from tackling the Articles of Impeachment and acting as an impeachment court. Hontiveros also hoped for an all-senator caucus to discuss the impeachment trial.
However, Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero believes that no special session is needed regarding the impeachment trial of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Based on a report on PhilStar, the Senate Leader stressed that they don’t need to make alteration on the calendar that they have approved for the upper chamber.
“We have long approved our legislative calendar. So why should we exchange that just because of an impeachment complaint?” Escudero said.
Based on the report, Senate Pres. Chiz Escudero also stressed that the proposed timeline for Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial “just serves as a suggested schedule”. According to him, it was sent to all the senators so they can study the schedule.
The Senate President said that they will act on the schedule on June 2 when the Senate session resumes. Recently, Manila Representative Joel Chua said that Vice Pres. Sara Duterte could be required to return the misused public funds once she is impeached from office.