Susan’s Notes
By Susan Palmes-Dennis
ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina—There’s a status quo on the Senate leadership for now which means there won’t be a coup unless there are last minute changes of heart among the majority and minority blocs.
And it looks like there won’t be because the majority bloc as pointed out by various media outlets are either loyal to the Dutertes or have pending cases of corruption against them or their family i.e Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Francis Escudero, even Loren Legarda whose son is facing pressure from the Palace for acquiring and exposing files related to the multi-billion pesos flood control project controversy from a former Public Works and Highways official who died under questionable circumstances.
So now the ball is at the Senate court as they received the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara and will sit as presiding judges while the Lower House prepare their prosecution panel to handle the case against her. Since this will be televised, both houses of Congress will be under intense public scrutiny and this will determine exactly how influential the Dutertes are.
As it is, the trial won’t start until July 6 which gives ample time for both the prosecution and the defense lawyers to build their respective cases. More importantly, what would play a crucial role would be public opinion or the court of public opinion that will serve as a barometer on the actual public sentiment on the corruption charges leveled at Vice President Sara.
A side note is Sen. Rodante Marcoleta’s attempts to allow online voting for fugitive Sen. Bato dela Rosa to vote in the impeachment trial despite his absences and apparent legal troubles including a pending arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Dela Rosa has, for me, disgraced the Senate and shred whatever credibility it had with his refusal to man up and face the ICC alongside his former boss, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
As I wrote this, the Senate minority bloc gave a sample taste of what to expect in the July 6 start of the impeachment by staging a walkout despite the protests of Sen. Marcoleta to continue with the session even with no quorum. Again, the majority bloc wants to give their absentee ally dela Rosa every opportunity to vote on the impeachment despite having gone AWOL and being tagged a fugitive as a result of his hiding from the authorities.
As a side note, Marcoleta’s arrogance in objecting to Sen. Risa Hontiveros’s move to table his motion to amend the Senate rules on voting due to her being a ‘non-lawyer’ smacks of the sheer level of entitlement that some lawmakers have because of their ties to the Dutertes. In other countries particularly here in the US, lawyers are looked down with scorn and contempt for being perceived as hired guns of the guilty rich, offering their services to the highest bidder.
Clearly the Senate majority bloc wants to pull out all stops to allow their colleagues like dela Rosa who are facing legal troubles to vote on the impeachment of Vice President Sara. Aside from dela Rosa, Marcoleta is facing a precautionary hold departure order (PHDO) for allegedly receiving a P75 million donation that wasn’t listed in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN).
And both Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Joel Villanueva are facing plunder charges in relation to the multi-billion peso flood control projects controversy. So we understand why the impeachment trial is moved to July 6 because time is not on the side of the majority bloc if some of their members find themselves to be ‘indisposed’ because of their legal troubles. Knowing them of course, they’ll find some wiggle room to extricate themselves out of the holes they find themselves in.
In the meantime, we can reasonably expect the Duterte camp to ramp up their campaign to stir up public opinion against President Bongbong Marcos and play up the victim card on VP Sara despite her refusal to disclose the source of billions of pesos in their bank accounts with her husband. VP Sara may be facing an impeachment trial but Duterte’s fanatic followers and allies are, through social media, roasting President BBM through the court of public opinion.
I also came across this interesting article at Rappler on how the Lower House voted in the impeachment of Vice President Sara and it’s no surprise how our elected lawmakers in Cagayan de Oro City and Misamis Oriental province voted in favor of VP Sara’s impeachment. Key fact here is Cagayan de Oro City 1st Dist. Rep. Lordan Suan will be part of the prosecutors’ panel of the Lower House once the trial commences on July 6.
Coincidental or not, Suan will be following in the footsepts of another homegrown lawmaker, namely former Cagayan de Oro City mayor Oscar Moreno who at one time served as lawmaker of the first district of Misamis Oriental when he was picked to be part of the Lower House prosecution panel in the 2000 impeachment trial of former president Joseph Estrada. And we all know how that turned out for Estrada.
As far as Rodriguez is concerned, I don’t know if he will retire to a life of teaching law school as he pronounced in his social media account, thus squashing any perception of siding either with the administration or the Dutertes. But still, he has a sharp enough legal mind that can be employed to good use should the prosecution panel need any assistance in building their case against Vice President Sara.
VP Sara’s impeachment is drawing comparisons to Estrada’s trial but there are key differences, notably the pervasive presence of social media and its role in shaping public opinion. And the bottomline is that, once televised live, public opinion will influence the behavior and mindset of the senator judges particularly those running for re-election. Never mind Sara’s lawyers they will do what they will to defend their client at any cost.
What we can reasonably expect is that every lawmaker concerned should do their utmost to ensure that the trial proceed smoothly and that no stone is left unturned in the search for truth. At this time when elected public officials are perceived to be loyal first to their self-preservation and to their political patrons second, they must and should always remember that their loyalty to the Filipino people and to the Constitution should be paramount and override anything else.
