Impeach endorsers hit Chiz for trial delay: ‘Are you afraid of Sara? Protecting her?’

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'The public wants a trial. Even the impeached Vice President herself has signaled a willingness to face one. What’s stopping the Senate? Is the leadership afraid of Sara?' says Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña

MANILA, Philippines – The original endorsers of the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte separately called on the Senate to proceed with her trial, directing their criticisms towards Senate President Chiz Escudero.

Escudero had moved the reading of the impeachment articles from June 2 to 11, citing the need to tackle priority measures before Congress adjourns sine die.

The postponement hangs the fate of the trial in the balance, and Escudero offered little assurance on what would happen on June 11.

“The public wants a trial. Even the impeached Vice President herself has signaled a willingness to face one. What’s stopping the Senate? Is the leadership afraid of Sara?” Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña said in a statement on Tuesday, June 3.

“With due respect to our Senate President, my question is: Who are you protecting with those kinds of statements? The people, or Sara Duterte? So think carefully, especially those who won in the last election — who is being protected here?” ACT Teachers Representative France Castro added in a separate press conference.

A day earlier, Camarines Sur 3rd District Representative Gabriel Bordado delivered a privilege speech, asserting that Congress could not allow the delay to erode public trust.

“When did convenience become a valid excuse to delay justice? When did we decide that institutional housekeeping is more important than institutional integrity?” Bordado said on Monday, June 2.

Even President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — who said he never wanted Duterte impeached — wasn’t spared from criticism.

“The sitting President sent signals to indicate that he is against the impeachment process. Why is he meddling in this? Is it because there are issues about him, too, that he doesn’t want to be exposed?” Kabataan Representative Raoul Manuel also asked.

“It’s important to have a trial because it will give the prosecutors a chance to present, including the evidence that this Congress was able to gather,” Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas added.

Cendaña, Castro, Brosas, Manuel, and Bordado make up five of the six lawmakers who first endorsed three separate impeachment complaints against the Vice President back in December.

None of the three complaints were acted on by the House, but a fourth impeachment complaint — the one that hurdled the House in February — was said to be a combination of the best parts of the first three documents.

In total, the approved articles of impeachment had 215 signatories, making all of them endorsers of the indictment case against the Vice President.

Duterte was impeached on the grounds of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

That was in relation to her alleged anomalous confidential expenses, her bribery of education officials, her threat to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. killed, and her supposed unexplained wealth, among others. – Rappler.com