Public office is a public trust.
That is a platitude, hackneyed and trite, an expert on Philippine constitutional law amusedly writes. It is more appropriate in a political speech, he adds, rather than the fundamental law.
But triteness does not deprive this opening sentence of Section 1, Article XI (Accountability of Public Officers) of the Constitution, of its validity, Justice Isagani A. Cruz concedes. The framers probably risked involving themselves in a cliché because they wanted to remind all public officers of the nature of their mandate. “Presumably, they wanted to underline the necessity for a return to the old concepts and values of public office.”
The fiduciary nature of the relationship between the office and its holder is at the core of Article XI. When public trust is betrayed, the betrayer will have to be dealt with—suspended or removed—in appropriate proceedings where due process is respected and observed, and accorded to the official concerned.
Vice President Sara Duterte is accused, among other things, of violating the public trust, an offense that, if proven, warrants her removal by the Senate, acting as an impeachment court. I repeat that: only the Senate can try and judge her.
The House cannot convict her. Its role is initiatory—to determine whether there is sufficient evidence to forward the complaint against her to the Senate.
She has filed her answer, but has indicated that beyond that, she has no intention of personally participating in the House inquiry any further. I agree that it is within her right to do that. Let the House transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate without hearing her side, if they can get one third of their members to approve it.
Obviously, the vice president distrusts the House. Her supporters say she cannot expect due process, that the House is a kangaroo court. She does not want to tell her story
to them.
Will she ever? Will she be more cooperative with the Senate if and when an impeachment trial is called? More directly to the point, will she testify?
The Senate is, compared to the House, friendlier territory. She does not want in allies: Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Bong Go, Jinggoy Estrada, Rodante Marcoleta, Alan Peter Cayetano and his sister, Pia, and Bato Dela Rosa, to name a few. They will be taking their oath as jurors but seriously, when push comes to shove, can we expect them to abandon Duterte?
In the end, whether she will talk or not under oath and thus open herself up to probing questions from the judges and cross-examination by the House prosecutors will entirely be up to Sara Duterte.
Oh, that we would eventually hear her version of the “truth and nothing but” straight from her mouth.