[Rappler’s Best] Dangerous detours

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The stalled impeachment process at the Senate has alarmed the country’s best legal minds

The Trump-Musk bromance took an ugly detour last week, as X (formerly Twitter) exploded with its owner’s incendiary posts against the US president, triggering a wild back and forth of claims and counter-claims by the two former allies. And we all thought Ukraine’s sensational drone attacks on Russia’s bombers were this month’s ultimate shocker!

Filipinos were quick to find humor and draw parallelisms. The Marcos-Duterte romance broke up first, they said, in the same way that the Philippines first elected Rodrigo Duterte before America embraced his Western twin, Donald Trump. Elon also hinted that his ex-buddy should be impeached (although he took down that post later). But surely Senate President Chiz Escudero would not want to give America any head start in that aspect?

Levity aside, the stalled impeachment process at the Philippine Senate has alarmed the country’s best legal minds and provoked various institutions into coming out with strong statements that, while not directed at Escudero, are aimed at his murky announcements and moves that have delayed — for months — the holding of an impeachment trial of the Vice President. “Reasonable people can disagree on how fast ‘forthwith’ means but, it is safe to say it does not mean several months of delay. And it most certainly does not mean, ‘only if the majority allows a trial to be held,’” the Philippine Bar Association said, referring to what the Constitution explicitly says about impeachments.

• Check the list of organizations and schools that are asking the Senate to proceed with the trial. 
• On Wednesday, June 11, the Senate under the 19th Congress will be holding its last session. Will the Articles of Impeachment be finally presented that day? Or will senators, hedging their bets and weighing their vested interests, take a detour and actually kill the process? Bonz Magsambol lays out scenarios. 

At The Hague where the other Duterte awaits trial, yet another twist happened — courtesy of the Trump government which announced on Friday, June 6, that it was imposing sanctions on four judges of the International Criminal Court for their orders against Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and a past decision to probe alleged American war crimes in Afghanistan.

One of the sanctioned judges is Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, who sits on the pre-trial chamber that handles the crimes against humanity case against former president Duterte. She is also one of the two judges that the Duterte team is asking to be disqualified from hearing the case. 

Will these sanctions have any impact on the Duterte case? Lian Buan explains.

At the West Philippine Sea, our defense and foreign affairs reporter Bea Cupin joined the Philippine military’s patrols in the area, particularly in the vicinity of Panata Shoal, where, on Friday morning, a Philippine Navy ship issued a challenge against a Chinese navy vessel that was loitering in waters close to the shoal. Bea tells us more in this story. A day later, on Saturday, June 7, Bea reports that a Chinese fishing vessel found itself temporarily stuck in waters east of Pag-asa Island during inclement weather. 

And, yes, the rainy season is here. 

Here are some of Rappler’s bests that you shouldn’t miss:

• Gaby Baizas tells us about Media Unlocked, a program run by the Chinese government that paints the Philippines as the aggressor in the high seas.
• Iya Gozum takes stock of the three years that Toni Yulo-Loyzaga took the helm at the environment department — and where the rigors of science and the requirements of public interest sometimes collide.
• Isagani de Castro Jr. asserts that the Philippine middle class has leveled up, and that the signs are everywhere. 
• JC Punongbayan weighs the pros and cons of the proposed minimum wage hike.
• Mia Magdalena Fokno introduces us to Tobi Leung — the Cordilleras’ pride, Ateneo’s number one, a mathematician, and a champion debater.

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– Rappler.com

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