Vice President Sara Duterte holds a press conference, February 7, 2025. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

'Dapat pag-usapan na': 1987 Constitution framer says Senate must decide on impeachment case vs VP Sara immediately

Ched Rick Gatchalian

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:958px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1738979033013sarad.png" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte holds a press conference, February 7, 2025.<em> Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — The Senate must immediately convene to start discussing and deciding on the articles of impeachment filed against Vice President Duterte in accordance with the 1987 Constitution, one of its framers said Saturday.</p><p>Under the 1987 Constitution, the verified impeachment complaint filed by at least a third of the 306-strong House members will “constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/6/escudero-16-senators-needed-to-convict-sara-duterte-1758">Escudero: 16 senators needed to convict Sara Duterte</a></div><p>Lawyer Rene Sarmiento, a former Commission on Elections commissioner and one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, told Teleradyo Serbisyo that the constitutional interpretation of &quot;forthwith proceed&quot; in this case is &quot;immediate&quot; action from the Senate.</p><p>&quot;Maganda po &#x27;yung Tagalog version ng ating Saligang Batas. Ano pong ibig sabihin ng &#x27;forthwith proceed&#x27;? Sa Tagalog version po ay &#x27;Dapat i-sunod kaagad&#x27;. The word is &#x27;agad&#x27;, &quot; he said.</p><p>(The Tagalog version of our Constitution is well-written. What does &#x27;forthwith proceed&#x27; mean? In the Tagalog version, it means &#x27;It must be followed immediately.&#x27; The word is &#x27;immediately&#x27;.)</p><p>The Senate adjourned for a break on Wednesday without discussing the impeachment case against Duterte.</p><p>Senate President Francis &#x27;Chiz&#x27; Escudero said &quot;legally, an impeachment trial cannot be done during the break.&quot;</p><p>He said the articles of impeachment have to be included in the agenda of a plenary session for proceedings to move forward.</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lKqbM4LqjFk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, a former Senate president himself, said that the complaint may be tackled when the Senate resumes its session in June.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/senate-adjourns-for-4-month-election-season-without-acting-on-impeachment-vs-sara-duterte-2035">Senate adjourns for 4-month election season without acting on impeachment vs Sara Duterte</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;CONSTITUTION TRUMPS SESSION BREAK&#x27;</strong></div><p>However, Sarmiento believes Congress being on break does not defeat the urgency of the matter as per the constitution.</p><p>&quot;On recess po sila at hindi po nabuo ang impeachment court. But with provision in the Constitution about &#x27;forthwith proceed&#x27; and &#x27;sole power to try and impeach&#x27; — so mawalang-galang sa ating Senate president, lumalabas &#x27;agad&#x27; po e. Agad po ang pagtalakay, paglilitis, at pagdesisyon ng ating Senado as an impeachment court dito sa articles of impeachment,&quot; he said.</p><p>(They are on recess, and the impeachment court has not been formed. But with the provision in the Constitution about forthwith proceeding and the sole power to try and impeach—with all due respect to our Senate President, it states that it should be &#x27;immediate&#x27;. There should be an &quot;immediate&quot; discussion, trial, and decision on the articles of impeachment.)</p><p>Escudero mentioned on Thursday that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. can call for a special session, but said that power may not be for convening an impeachment court &quot;as far as he knows&quot;.</p><p>Marcos Jr. said he is ready to call for a special session if the Senate requests him to do so.</p><p>He discouraged House members last year from pushing through with impeachment and said he will not get involved in proceedings.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/7/-filipinos-aren-t-laughing-lawmakers-react-to-vp-sara-s-post-impeachment-presscon-1506">&#x27;Filipinos aren&#x27;t laughing&#x27;: Lawmakers react to VP Sara&#x27;s post-impeachment presscon</a></div><p>&quot;Sa ating 1987 Constitution, &#x27;a special session as may be called by the president&#x27;... Kung legislation o other matters he may designate... Sa 1973, 1935, sa US Contitution, pwede magpatawag ang pangulo ng any subject na pwede talakayin ng Senado na panukala, crisis issue, war issue,&quot; Sarmiento explained.</p><p>(In our 1987 Constitution, &#x27;a special session may be called by the president&#x27;... It can be for legislation or other matters he may designate. In the 1973, 1935, in the US Constitution, the President can call for a session on any subject that the Senate may discuss, such as proposed laws, crisis issues, or war issues.)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/senate-formally-receives-articles-of-impeachment-vs-vp-sara-duterte-from-house-1910">Senate formally receives articles of impeachment vs VP Sara Duterte from House</a></div><div><strong>&#x27;A QUESTION OF INTERPRETATION&#x27;<br/></strong></div><p>&quot;It&#x27;s a question of interpretation ano po, sa ating Saligang Batas. Pero sa aking interpretasyon po, &#x27;forthwith proceed&#x27; dapat &#x27;agad&#x27; ang paglilitis at pagtatalakay ng articles of impeachment. So it does not mention any liability or any penalty, it&#x27;s a question of interpretation,&quot; Sarmiento said.</p><p>(It seems that the Senate President has no liability. It&#x27;s a question of interpretation on our constitution. But as to my personal interpretation, forthwith proceed means immediate discussion and trial on the articles of impeachment.)</p><p>He said the senators should have included the impeachment complaint in its agenda for the day.</p><p>Sen. Joel Villanueva, speaking before the House endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint, said any such complaint sent to the Senate would still have to go through a long process before trial can proceed.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/7/house-leaves-impeachment-trial-sked-to-senate-discretion-1751">House leaves impeachment trial sked to Senate discretion</a></div><p>Although the House would prefer trial to start as soon as possible, Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor, one of the prosecutors for the impeachment case, said &quot;the Senate is an independent body and we respect their independence, being a bicameral legislature, we will leave that to the interpretation of the Senate.&quot; </p><p>Akbayan and ACT Teachers Party-List, however, have urged the Senate to act swiftly.</p><p>&quot;The Filipino people are watching, and history will judge whether our senators will uphold their constitutional duty or allow political expediency to stand in the way of justice,” Akbayan Party-List Rep. Perci Cendaña said.</p><p>&quot;Kung gusto ay pu-puwedeng gawin &#x27;di ba. Kung ayaw maraming dahilan at maraming sinisisi. Hinahamon ko ngayon si Senate President Escudero na, come on, i-convene mo na &#x27;yung Senado as impeachment trial court,&quot; ACT Teachers Party-List Rep. France Castro said.</p><p>(If they want to, they can do it, right? If they don&#x27;t, then there are many reasons and shifting of blame. I challenge Senate President Escudero, come on, convene the Senate as an impeachment court.)</p><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k6rhSzSTOi8?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>EXTENDING TRIAL TO 20TH CONGRESS MAY RAISE &#x27;CONSTITUTIONAL ISSUE&#x27;</strong></div><p>Sarmiento warned that passing the impeachment trial from 19th to 20th Congress can cause a &quot;constitutional issue&quot; as there will be new legislators coming in.</p><p>This comes after Escudero said it is &quot;almost a sure thing&quot; that trial will extend into the 20th Congress, which will convene in June.</p><p>Sarmiento cited the Supreme Court decision Garcillano v. the House of Representatives which holds that &quot;Congress is a continuing body as an institution&quot; but that &quot;any other matters or proceedings or investigation shall terminate or expire upon the adjournment of that Congress.&quot;</p><p>He said: &quot;So kung may hahalalan po tayo ng May 2025, it is entirely a new Congress, not the old Congress. It may create a question, a constitutional issue. Pwede bang balikan ito? Normally hindi na po. Kasi that was the old Congress, new Congress na po ito may mga bagong senador,&quot; he argued.</p><p>(So if we have an election in May 2025, it will be an entirely new Congress, not the old Congress. This may raise a question, a constitutional issue. Can this be revisited? Normally, no. Because the issue was of the old Congress, this is new Congress with new senators.)</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/villanueva-details-long-tedious-process-for-impeachment-complaints-at-senate-1656">Villanueva details long, tedious process for impeachment complaints at Senate</a></div><p>&quot;Puwede i-endorse ng 19th Congress sa 20th Congress, kung papayag &#x27;yung senators. If they refuse, mahirap na po &#x27;yan,&quot; he said.</p><p>(The 19th Congress can endorse it to the 20th Congress, if the senators agree. If they refuse, it will be a difficult situation)</p><p>He also said trial should continue even if Duterte resigns as vice president, &quot;since it has been filed, it has to proceed.&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/7/impeached-sara-duterte-won-t-rule-out-presidential-run-1345">Impeached Sara Duterte won&#x27;t rule out presidential run</a></div><div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KPsNJTU0ATg?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>The Senate under the 19th Congress must immediately convene to start discussing and deciding on the articles of impeachment filed against Vice President Duterte in accordance to 1987 constitution, one of its framers said Saturday.</p>

The Senate under the 19th Congress must immediately convene to start discussing and deciding on the articles of impeachment filed against Vice President Duterte in accordance to 1987 constitution, one of its framers said Saturday.

'Dapat pag-usapan na': 1987 Constitution framer says Senate must act on VP Sara impeachment despite break | ABS-CBN

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'Dapat pag-usapan na': 1987 Constitution framer says Senate must act on VP Sara impeachment despite break

'Dapat pag-usapan na': 1987 Constitution framer says Senate must act on VP Sara impeachment despite break

Ched Rick Gatchalian,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 08, 2025 10:49 AM PHT

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Updated Feb 08, 2025 11:21 AM PHT

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