Rowegie Abanto

Lawyer Israelito Torreon. Screenshot from a video by Johnson Manabat, ABS-CBN News/File

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ABS-CBN News

<div><br/></div><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1783485231915composites 2 (1) (11).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960" alt="Lawyer Israelito Torreon. Screenshot from a video by Johnson Manabat, ABS-CBN News/File"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Lawyer Israelito Torreon. <em>Screenshot from a video by Johnson Manabat, ABS-CBN News/File</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — A lawyer allied with Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday called the designation of Sen. Francis Escudero as presiding officer of the impeachment court a &quot;constitutional aberration&quot; that the Supreme Court should resolve.</p><p>Israelito Torreon, a Davao-based lawyer associated with the Duterte family and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ religious group, said Escudero&#x27;s election as presiding officer in a 12-8 vote on Monday is anomalous.</p><p>Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the election was allowed by an amendment to the impeachment rules made in plenary in June.</p><p>Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano has registered a continuing objection to the court having a presiding officer other than the Senate president.</p><p>Torreon and other lawyers ran to the Supreme Court on Tuesday to stop the impeachment proceedings, citing <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/7/supreme-court-asked-to-stop-impeachment-trial-over-legality-of-rules-presiding-officer-1618">several legal issues</a>, including the designation of Escudero as presiding officer.</p><p>He asserted in an interview on ANC that &quot;it is very clear in the records of the Constitutional Commission that any and all officers apart from the president, the impeachment proceedings shall be presided [over] by the Senate president.&quot;</p><p>The 1986 Constitutional Commission was tasked with drafting the present charter.</p><p>The Senate crossed a &quot;constitutional boundary&quot; and the situation &quot;has now become a constitutional aberration,&quot; said Torreon, dean of the College of Law - Jose Maria College Foundation, Inc.</p><p>&quot;So, therefore, lawyers like us have the bound and duty to bring this to the Supreme Court so that the constitutional boundaries would be clarified again and to guide our future actions as a Republic,&quot; he said.</p><p>He noted  that they did not inform Duterte nor her legal counsels about filing their petition before the high court.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/8/what-to-expect-on-day-3-of-vp-sara-impeachment-trial-0951">What to expect on day 3 of VP Sara impeachment trial</a></div><p>In defending Monday&#x27;s election of Escudero, Gatchalian and his allies in the majority bloc said the constitution allows the chamber to promulgate its own rules.</p><p>They also said the charter only expressedly directs the impeachment court to designate the chief justice as presiding officer in case the president is on trial.</p><p>Paolo Tamase, associate dean and assistant professor at the University of the Philippines - College of Law, explained Tuesday that resorting to the discussions of the framers of the constitution &quot;was unneccesary.&quot; </p><p>Tamase said the Supreme Court had issued a reminder that the intent of the ratifiers, not the framers, should be more important because the people voted on the text and not what the framers said the text would be.</p><p>The text of the discussion between two constitutional framers <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/6/wrap-sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-opens-with-debate-on-presiding-officer-2022">brought up in Senate</a> &quot;doesn&#x27;t really leave us with a lot,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It seems like there was a proposal to include a text specifying the Senate president as the presiding officer of the impeachment [court] but the proposal was withdrawn,&quot; said Tamase.</p><p>&quot;So it&#x27;s very hard to extrapolate on that small data point and say this is what the constitution means in this unique instance.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>WATCH</strong></div><div><strong><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/tPborQsl9AQ?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>A lawyer allied with Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday called the designation of Sen. Francis Escudero as presiding officer of the impeachment court a "constitutional aberration" that the Supreme Court should resolve.</p>

A lawyer allied with Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday called the designation of Sen. Francis Escudero as presiding officer of the impeachment court a "constitutional aberration" that the Supreme Court should resolve.

Impeachment trial: Duterte-allied lawyer calls Escudero election 'constitutional aberration'

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Impeachment trial: Duterte-allied lawyer calls Escudero election 'constitutional aberration'

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 08, 2026 02:35 PM PHT

|

Updated July 08, 2026 02:44 PM PHT

Read More:

Sara Duterte

Sara Duterte Trial

Israelito Torreon

Senate Trial

Supreme Court

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