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The 11-member House prosecution panel will be physically present for the scheduled convening of the Senate impeachment court on Monday next week, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said.
Ridon – one of the prosecutors on the House panel – made the remarks after Senate President Alan Cayetano announced that the Senate impeachment court will convene on Monday, May 18, at 3 p.m.
“Nagpapasalamat po ang House prosecution panel sa pagbanggit po ni Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano na iko-convene na po ang Senate impeachment court laban kay Vice President Sara Duterte,” Ridon said.
(The House prosecution panel is thankful that Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano announced that the Senate impeachment court against Vice President Sara Duterte will convene.)
“Maaasahan din po na ‘yon pong kabuuan ng House prosecution panel ay magpupunta rin po dito po sa araw na ito para saksihan ‘yon pong pag-convene ng Senate impeachment court,” he added.
(You can be assured that the entire House prosecution panel will be there on that day to witness the convening of the House impeachment court.)
Aside from Ridon, other members of the House prosecution panel include:
- Rep. Gerville Luistro of Batangas
- Rep. Ramon Rodriguez of 1-Rider party-list
- Rep. Ysabel Zamora of San Juan City
- Rep. Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo
- Rep. Jose Manuel “Chel” Diokno of Akbayan party-list
- Rep. Leila de Lima of ML party-list
- Rep. Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Islands
- Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores of Bukidnon
- Rep. Lordan Suan of Cagayan de Oro and
- Rep. Joel Chua of Manila
Of the 11 prosecutors, only Flores did not vote yes to impeach Duterte.
The Articles of Impeachment were transmitted to the Senate by the House on Wednesday night, two days after 257 House members voted to impeach the Vice President.
This number is more than the constitutionally-required one-third of all House members for the Articles of Impeachment to be sent to the Senate so the impeachment trial can start “forthwith.”
The Articles of Impeachment accused the Duterte of alleged culpable violation of the 1987 Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery and other high crimes, based on the following acts:
a) systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as Education Secretary,
b) amassing unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official,
c) failure to fully and truthfully disclose all her and her spouse’s assets, liabilities, and net worth in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024,
d) failure to divest, and instead, willfully continued, all her business interests during her tenure as Vice President for the years 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025,
e) giving monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws,
f) contracting the assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former Speaker and Leyte 1st District Rep. Martin Romualdez by allegedly making grave threats and by actively inciting sedition against the Republic.
Items a, e and f constitute Article 1, 3 and 4, while items b, c and d are all subsections of Article 2 of the Articles of Impeachment.
On Monday, Cayetano and his allies voted to unseat Senator Vicente Sotto III as Senate President as the House voted on the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.
Cayetano was subsequently installed as Senate President after a vote of 13-10.
The 13 votes for Cayetano included that of Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who showed up after a six-month absence amid an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for his alleged role in the war on illegal drugs when he was chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
Cayetano – whose allies are against Duterte’s impeachment – denied that the Senate leadership change is related to the looming impeachment trial. — JMA, GMA News