Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa — File photo
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, former President Rodrigo Duterte’s loyal lieutenant, on Wednesday owned up to crafting a draft resolution urging his colleagues to toss out the impeachment case against the former leader’s daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte, without the Senate holding a trial, a proposal that many critics deem as a breach of the 1987 Constitution.
“It came from my office,” Dela Rosa told reporters hours after a digital copy of the unnumbered proposed resolution spread on social media.
READ: Dismissing Sara Duterte’s impeachment thru Senate reso illegal – solons
His admission also came moments after Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada disclosed that he was given a printed copy of the document on Monday for him to “read” its contents.
When asked what prompted him to seek the dismissal of the impeachment case ahead of the convening of the Senate impeachment court, Dela Rosa said: “Just read the resolution. You will understand everything. That’s very self-explanatory.”
“Whatever you read there, that’s my stand,” he added.
A copy of the document, titled “Resolution Declaring the De Facto Dismissal of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte by Operation of the 1987 Constitution,” cited the “inability of the Senate” to act on the impeachment complaint endorsed by 215 members of the House of Representatives.
It said the chamber would have “no sufficient time” to take up the matter after Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero deferred the reading of the articles of impeachment on the last session day of the 19th Congress on June 11.
“Consistent with the foregoing, the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Duterte must necessarily be deemed DE FACTO DISMISSED by virtue of the inability of the Senate to properly consider the same because of the timing of the transmittal thereof by the House of Representatives,” read a portion of the draft resolution.
Unconstitutional
For Mamamayang Liberal Representative-elect Leila de Lima, the very text of the Senate resolution seeking to dismiss the impeachment proceedings on the grounds of lack of time and jurisdiction without even hearing the case is “clearly, clearly unconstitutional.”
The former senator, who was tapped to join the 11-member prosecution team that would try Sara Duterte, said the resolution seeking the de facto dismissal of the case for lack of time would most likely be put to a vote before June 11, the scheduled day for the reading of the seven articles of impeachment against Duterte.
Since it is a simple resolution, De Lima anticipates a scenario where it would need only a simple majority vote of the 24 senators and would most likely be followed by a motion to adjourn Congress, “which is not debatable.”
She warned that the 19th Congress could end like that without having heard the multiple charges against Duterte, including culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, all stemming from her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds during her concurrent tenure as vice president and education secretary from 2022 to 2024.
“To the senators, enough with the dribbling. You are not spectators, you are the court,” De Lima said in a press conference led by civil society group Tindig Pilipinas. “Let the trial begin and let the evidence be laid bare. Our call is simple: Let the impeachment trial commence so that we can hold accountable those who are not fit for public office.”
De Lima reminded the Escudero-led Senate that impeachment, being a constitutional mandate, is not subject to ordinary or general rules, and therefore is exempt from legislative activities that expire at the end of the 19th Congress.
“They need to understand this very well, because if they still do things to stop the impeachment, they are violating the Constitution,” she warned.
Akbayan president Rafaela David said they are planning a series of mass protests in the coming days while they explore all legal remedies to compel the Senate to fulfill its constitutional duty.
Saving Sara
According to Dela Rosa, he decided to prepare the resolution immediately after Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, a former ally of the Dutertes, delivered a manifestation on Monday arguing that the impeachment complaint should be dismissed if the Senate fails to decide on it after the term of the 19th Congress ends on June 30.
He said he had provided copies of the resolution to certain senators, whom he declined to identify.
The senator also refused to say if some of his 22 colleagues had already signed the proposed resolution or had at least signified their intention to support it.
“I already have the number,” he quipped, “the number is from one to 23.”
Dela Rosa initially played coy about the existence of the document when members of the Senate media asked him.
“Is there such a thing? Let’s look for it,” Dela Rosa said.
Later told that a certain Joan Narvaez, the head of his legislative staff, was the supposed source of the soft copy of the draft resolution, the senator acknowledged being the author of the document.
As to whether the younger Duterte knew about his proposal, Dela Rosa said he did it on his own after “asking and consulting” some senators, whom he also did not name.
In fact, he said his proposal was just one of three different versions of a draft resolution aimed at saving the Vice President from standing trial before the Senate impeachment court.
Dela Rosa said he would officially file the resolution after getting the inputs and recommendations of senators supporting his proposal.
Senate on trial
Escudero was apparently clueless about Dela Rosa’s action as he maintained that the proposed resolution had not been filed with the Senate Bills and Index Service as of Wednesday morning.
“Any kind of resolution that has no author, as they say, is just a mere scrap of paper unless [a senator] files it,” Escudero said in a separate interview.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III expressed doubts over the authenticity of the document, noting that it was based on “flawed logic.”
“[There’s a] big chance [that it’s] not authentic. Even the quotation of the constitutional provision is not accurate,” Pimentel said.
For Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, a lawyer, he and his colleagues must comply with the constitutional provision mandating them to serve as senator-judges of the Senate impeachment court.
“I’ll make it very clear,” Cayetano said. “The Senate has no choice. We have to carry out our constitutional duty.”
He pointed out that the controversies surrounding the Vice President’s impeachment trial placed the chamber in the spotlight.
“Right now, it is not the Vice President who is on trial. It is the Senate that is on trial,” Cayetano told reporters.
Estrada, also a known Duterte ally, agreed that the Senate should convene as an impeachment court to hear the accusations against the country’s second-highest political leader, as written in the Constitution.
Asked if he would sign Dela Rosa’s resolution, he said: “I will really think hard about it.” /cb