The Senate of the Republic of the Philippines received from the House of Representatives the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as early as February this year.
Yet, Senate President Francis Escudero insisted that the word “forthwith” in Art. XI, Sec. 3(4) does not necessarily mean “immediately.” So, he incubated the Articles of Impeachment for about four months. Perhaps he understood “forthwith” as four months long.
On June 10, 2025, the Senate at last convened as impeachment court, after being forced by the clamor of the different sectors of society for their procrastination.
The seemingly deliberate procrastination caused even the framers of the 1987 Constitution to speak up. One of them was Christian Monsod, a highly respected man in society. He commented on the Senate’s act of remanding the Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives, questioning the constitutionality of the Articles of Impeachment.
Monsod said that it is not the duty of the Senate, but of the Supreme Court, to determine the constitutionality, or lack of it, of the Articles of Impeachment. “That is not their job” he said. “That is to be decided by the Supreme Court.” Monsod continued that they seem to forget that “they are senators of the people. It is the people who voted them as senators. They are not senators for Duterte.”
On her part, Rep. Gerville Luistro said that they “did not violate the one-year prohibition rule” and other requirements. “There will be no withdrawal [of the impeachment case] by the House. That is not allowed by the Constitution.”
On his part, Rep. Chel Diokno said that the Senate’s act of remanding the Articles of Impeachment was an “abandonment of the Constitution.” Diokno continued that “the Constitution is not just a piece of paper. It is the will of the people. We cannot just throw it away. That is why we are worried at what the Senate did.”
Can we still trust the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines today? Is the Constitution the lord of the senators, or, are the senators the lord over the Constitution?
“They are not senators for Duterte,” Monsod said. But perhaps it would have been, “They are senators for Duterte” (not senators for the people of the Republic of the Philippines) as evidenced by their seeming deliberate procrastination.
The majority of the senators (18 of them) appear to try their best to dismiss or kill the impeachment case at all cost. Why do they seem to avoid or be afraid of acting as senator-judges as much as possible?
Does this imply that, once the trial goes on, they cannot deny or turn their back on the preponderance of evidence that will be presented by the prosecutor House of Representatives, such that they cannot sneak out from judging against their ally?
In incubating the Articles of Impeachment, while imposing his own subjective lexical definition of the word “forthwith,” Escudero, who has amassed criticisms, is lording over the Constitution and not the other way around. And, in doing so, he also appears to lead the other 17 senators to do the same. They are now lords of the Constitution.
Instead of following and implementing the “forthwith,” they procrastinated and incubated it. And Escudero appears to be the lead of the lords of the Constitution.