Has Escudero really slipped? | Manila’s times

The president of the Senate, Francis Escudero, has been saved by critics for saying that the Senate cannot hold a special session to prove vice president Sara Duterte about a complaint of political trial, while Congress is, as is now, in its Mandatory extended recess. His critics say he is “wrong”, although none of them seem to have a better reading of the Constitution and the rules of the Senate. We need to return to the letter of the law and the facts of the case.

Senator Francis Escudero talks about the political trial of Vice President Sara Duterte during the Kapihan Sa Senate on February 6, 2025. Escudero said there would be no trial of political trial during the recess and that Sara Duterte will continue to be vice president to the Senate, Let him feel. As a court of political trial, rules about his case. Photos of Rene H. Dilan

On February 5 of last week, 215 members of the Chamber of Representatives of 306 stretch marks accused the vice president for several positions. According to article XI, section 3 (4), “in case the complaint or resolution of the trial trial is presented by at least one third of all members of the Chamber, the same will constitute the articles of political trial and trial by the Senate proceed immediately. “

“Immediately” means “immediately” or “without delay”, but this is subject to the Constitution and the rules of procedure of the Senate in the dismissal judgments. According to these rules, the president of the Senate, upon receiving the political trial articles, will inform the Chamber that the Senate is ready to start trial and receive prosecutors at the time and date that the Senate can specify. Except when the president is in trial and the president of the Supreme Court will preside over the procedures, the president of the Senate will preside over all political trial judgments.

Then, after notifying the Chamber that the Senate is ready to start trial and receive its prosecutors, the president of the Senate will administer the prescribed oath or affirmation to the Senate members who will act as Senator-Juzgados. But that same day (February 5), when the political trial articles were delivered to the Sergeant of the Senate of Arms before 5 in the afternoon, the Congress postponed until June 2.

There is no registration that shows that the president of the Senate had personal knowledge that the political trial articles had been delivered to the Senate; What is clear is that he did not recognize having received them or seen at all. Nor did he ask the Chamber to nomine a panel of prosecutors, nor warned any of his Senate colleagues about the imminent trial.

Did Escudero know of his own personal knowledge that the political trial articles had been delivered to the sergeant of arms? Or did the sergeants of arms not reported it in time? Because the Sergeant of Arms is a duly elected officer of the Senate, his official acts are binding for the Senate. Therefore, it is necessary to verify if the political trial articles were delivered to the Senate before Congress was postponed. We need to be sure that Escudero was not deceived by any of his subordinates.

Since Congress was in the recess, the case of Sara Duterte has not moved. Until the Senate becomes a court of political trial, there can be no trial for the vice president. If the 19th congress ends on June 30 without a trial being held, political trial articles would die of natural death and Sara Duterte would be released from their current problems. The articles would have to be reflected in the next congress, which begins on July 28, but since the Constitution prohibits the presentation of a complaint of political trial against any official more than once within a year, Sara accusers will have to Wait a little more before longer. send your complaint. This would take them much closer to the presidential elections of 2028 when people expect Sara to run for president. Public reaction to filling could be different.

This explains the great impulse for the celebration of a special session of the Senate to test the vice president. But if a special session were the solution, the Constitution should have said it; And he didn’t. In a bicameral congress where the Chamber has the exclusive power to initiate all cases of political trial, and the Senate the only power to try to decide all those cases, it is not necessary to have happened that the Chamber was accused of the vice president the same day in That the Congress was in an extended break, which makes it impossible for the Senate to become a court of political trial. This was clearly a case of monumental calculation error and incompetence.

For a while, President Marcos seemed to believe that he could call the Senate to a special session to prove the vice president. This was exactly the opposite of what he said previously, that he considered that the accusation of unnecessary and counterproductive Sara. I hope you have retired from this position, since although the Constitution allows you to call Congress to a special session at any time, it is usually only in order to promulgate urgent legislation, never try an accused vice president, which is a great political issue. In addition, you cannot summon one house only without the other. Just as the Constitution does not allow a Chamber during the Congress session to postpone for more than three days without the consent of the other, it cannot, a fortiori, allow a house to become a special session without the other.

It would be a mistake to use the current break to go after the vice president. Contrary to the statement of some critics that the recess until June 2 is a recess and postponement of self -declared by legislators to avoid an extended session, it is an express mandate of the Constitution. Article VI, Section 15, establishes: “Congress will meet once a year on the fourth Monday of July for its regular session, unless the law is set a different date, and will continue in session during the number of days that may determine Until thirty days before the opening of your next regular session, excluding on Saturdays, Sundays and legal vacations. “

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