THE SENATE has started to try the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. It’s the Senate that is given this exclusive power by the Philippine Constitution. That Constitution was ratified by the Filipino people in 1987 — to be more precise, around 17 million Filipinos comprising 76% of the votes cast at that time voted to ratify the Constitution.
The very same Constitution introduced a new ground for impeachment, namely, betrayal of public trust. The objective was to make impeachment easier. And that was significant because prior attempts in the Batasan Pambansa to impeach then President Ferdinand Marcos had failed for lack of proof of a criminal act. The ground “betrayal of public trust” thus became a catchall phrase.
The Senate’s role is to make findings of fact and law and determine if the official should be removed from office. And as the constitutional framers repeatedly said, impeachment is a political act. “The courts of justice will take care of the criminal and civil aspects.”
On July 22, the panel of prosecutors (their American counterpart is called House managers) closed its presentation on Article IV. The Articles of Impeachment say that the Vice President committed culpable violation of the Constitution, high crimes, and betrayal of public trust by contracting for the assassination of the President (and the First Lady and the former Speaker of the House), by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the Republic. The proof? The online presscon that was live-streamed on the Facebook page of Harry Roque on November 23, 2024.
“… may kinausap na ako na tao, sinabi ko sa kanya, kapag pinatay ako, patayin mo si BBM … no joke. No joke … huwag kang tumigil hanggang hind mo mapatay sila. And then he said yes.”
In her Answer, the Vice President didn’t deny uttering those words. How could she, when millions of people saw the video and heard her. What she argued instead was that she meant no harm, that she merely replied to a question about an “Operation Romanov.”
On Day 5 of the impeachment trial, her counsel adopted that theme, insisting that “there was also a threat against VP Sara and her family, namely, Operation Romanov.” Interestingly, according to NBI Agent Jeremy Lotoc, the word “Romanov” first came from the brother of the Vice President. As early as January 2024, in a rally in Davao, Mayor Sebastian Duterte seemingly warned the President. “When you go to bed tonight, think about the Romanovs, iyon po yata yung pagkasabi.”
The counsel for the Vice President also attributed bias to the NBI. In response, the NBI said that they could not check the alleged threat on the Vice President since she declined to meet with them despite two invitations given to her.
On the other hand, through NBI agent John Mark Calilung, NBI Agent Jeremy Lotoc, and NBI Director Melvin Matibag, the panel of prosecutors emphasized that through her own actions, the Vice President openly declared that she got someone to agree to kill the President and the Vice President reiterated this in another presscon. They also tried to establish that her utterances did not merely result from a temporary fit of anger. Prior public declarations had the same flavor. She intended her words to be taken seriously.
Six days were spent on Article IV alone. Was it worth it?
Not if you listen to the incessant objections and manifestations. Lawyers play a big part, but they do not rule this constitutional process. Why refuse to agree on the authenticity of the video seen by thousands and thousands of people? Why devote hours on pointing to wrong dates written on NBI documents? Why insist that a threat on the life of a sitting President must be linked to an identified assassin?
And yet, precisely because an impeachment trial is a people’s trial that non-lawyers should tune in. This is a painful thing to see—there’s nothing comforting about a high official facing an impeachment trial—but it is a part of our system of accountability. In the end, there is a Vice President who told everyone, I’m having the President killed. Her counsel had to work with that fact. What we, the public, make of this would reveal much about us./PN
