Cayetano vows no delay in Sara Duterte impeachment trial

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

While the surprise takeover of Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate President on Monday afternoon, May 11, was seen as a major roadblock to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, a political analyst said keeping it waiting would be more detrimental to her.

To recap, on Monday, Sen. Joel Villanueva made a motion to declare all seats vacant, with 13 voting in favor, nine against, and two abstentions.

Shortly after, Cayetano, then minority leader, was elected as the new Senate President with the same number of votes.

All of this happened while the House of Representatives, on the other side of the National Capital Region in Quezon City, began deliberations on impeaching Duterte.

The full House eventually impeached the vice president, with 257 representatives voting in favor — more than the 106 needed under the Constitution and the House rules.

The Constitution also provides that the Senate shall proceed to trial “forthwith,” with the senators sitting as judges.

The Supreme Court en banc, in a decision penned by Associate Justice Rodil Zalameda and announced on April 29, said the meaning of the word was discretionary upon the Senate.

“It merely provides that it ‘shall forthwith proceed’ or immediately proceed with the trial, which leaves the Senate with discretion as to its timing,” the Court said in its press briefer on April 29.

“The SC clarified that the term ‘forthwith’ in Article XI, Section 3(4) of the Constitution means within a reasonable time, which may be longer or shorter, depending on the circumstances of each case. This allows the Senate to make the necessary preparations to convene as an impeachment court,” it added.

When asked about a possible impeachment trial, then-Senate President Tito Sotto said that for him, the word meant “agad-agad” in Tagalog, or “immediately.”

But the installation of Cayetano, an ally of the vice president’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, as Senate President was seen to slow down the process.

The new Senate President spoke to reporters on Tuesday and gave assurances that there would be no delays in the impeachment trial, noting that the Senate has yet to receive the Articles of Impeachment from the House.

“I consulted Senator Sotto, [and] he said, ‘Process, give it first to the Committee on Rules,’ so we will do what has to be done, and there won’t be delays,” Cayetano said.

“You judge us on our actions. I don’t know what time it would be received, that’s why I want a majority caucus so that it’s not the decision of only one group.”

“We won’t delay. There’s no reason. The country needs us in other capacities. So the longer [the impeachment process] drags out, the more our attention will be on that. But it’s such an important accountability process, so we’ll give it full attention,” he added.

 

Delay = Duterte’s detriment

Lawyer, political analyst, and Daily Guardian columnist Michael Henry Yusingco said on Tuesday that a delay in the impeachment trial would hurt the vice president’s prospects more.

“A delay in the trial, I think that’s the natural worry with [Cayetano], because our perception is that he is a very staunch ally of the Dutertes and based on the declarations [of other allies] that they would not convene as an impeachment court, that’s a natural worry,” Yusingco said in a phone interview.

He noted that Cayetano may have the votes to acquit Duterte, as the Constitution required two-thirds of the Senate, or 16 votes, to convict.

“But when you look at it, delaying the impeachment doesn’t actually work in favor of [Duterte], because they already have the votes to acquit. Even during the time of Sotto, they already had the votes to acquit, because the nine allied with the Vice President were solid,” he said.

“Delaying is just creating more fire around the issue, so that’s not beneficial to Duterte’s cause, especially in relation to 2028, so while the natural worry is that they will delay it, it will only make the issue more in the public center, and make people talk about it,” he added.