SENATE. Pasay City — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino 'Koko' Pimentel III is opposed to calls for certain senator-judges to inhibit themselves from the impeachment trial of Vice President 'Inday' Sara Duterte-Carpio, stressing that it may even benefit the vice president if they do so.

In a press conference, the outgoing senator emphasized that the results of impeachment proceedings will be based on the number of senators convicting VP Duterte and not on her acquital as two-thirds or 16 senator-judges need to say that Duterte is guilty or not guilty before she gets convicted or not.

“Iyong mga senador na magiging judges, ipaabot hanggang dulo sa decision nila so that they will now state their decision—guilty or not guilty—tapos taumbayan na ang huhusga sa desisyon ng bawat senador,” Pimentel pointed out.

“Kapag nag-inhibit, nakakalusot pa siya eh, hindi na niya kailangan sabihin kung ano ang decision niya —guilty ba or not guilty. Na-excuse pa siya tapos ‘yung kanyang absence ay pabor pa sa not guilty,” he added.
Earlier, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero had explained that it is up to any senator-judge to recuse himself from the impeachment trial as the decision is deemed 'voluntary'.

In support, Atty. Christian Monsod, one of the authors of the 1987 Constitution, enthused that he believes Senators Ronald 'Bato' dela Rosa and Francis 'Tol' Tolentino should inhibit themselves from sitting as senator-judges after they sought to dismiss the impeachment complaint against the vice president.

As this developed, the ACT Teachers party-list group called on senators Maria Imelda Josefa Remedios 'Imee' Marcos-Manotoc and Robin 'Robinhood' Padilla to inhibit themselves from the impeachment trial, after they went with Duterte to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and openly expressed their support for her.

For her part, VP Duterte opined that not anyone of the senator-judges should be urged to recuse themselves from the impeachment trial solely based on their political bias because if that were the case, those who are not in favor of her, including Senator Ana Theresia 'Risa' Hontiveros-Baraquel, should also be barred from the impeachment trial.

Meanwhile, Pimentel likewise cited that the move of the Senate impeachment court to return to the House of Representatives the articles of impeachment may pose legal questions, resulting in further delays in the trial.

“Imbes na simplehan mo ang proseso na madaling maintindihan ng lahat, hindi lang ng taumbayan but pati iyong parties to the case para madaling maka-comply, diretso lang sana, medyo lumiko ka . . . marami ngayong maka-imagine ng legal issues,” he asserted.

“So all the more hindi tuloy napabilis o dumiretso iyong daan. Sa pag-detour mo, meron ngayon nagtatanong saan ba papunta? Iyong pag-detour mo, tamang ruta pa ba iyan? Puwedeng manganak ng mga legal cases. Eh ‘pag may mga legal cases na, napo-focus ka na doon sa legal cases, hindi na sa main issue e,” he concluded