Full speed ahead — that is how House prosecutor Terry Ridon described the Senate impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, brushing off a fresh attempt by her allies to freeze the trial through the Supreme Court.
The Bicol Saro Party-list representative, replying to House reporters over Viber on Tuesday, July 7, dismissed the legal maneuver with characteristic sarcasm aimed at the Vice President’s supporters.
“Good luck sa kanila, nagsasayang na naman sila ng papel,” Ridon said.
Pressed on whether the petition could throw the impeachment off course, the lawyer-legislator was unequivocal.
“Nothing is derailed, the trial is full speed ahead,” he said.
The petition he referred to was lodged a day earlier, on Monday, July 6, by a group of lawyers headed by Israelito Torreon. Their “Very Urgent Manifestation with Motion” asked the high court for a status quo ante order — or, in some versions of the plea, a temporary restraining order — to stop the impeachment court from receiving evidence, ruling on objections, or issuing any orders against Duterte while the constitutional questions remain open.
At the heart of the challenge is Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero’s standing as the trial’s presiding officer. The Torreon group contends that his authority traces back to a June 3 Senate session that they insist was improperly convened, held with only 12 of 24 senators present. That session amended Rule 2 of the impeachment rules to permit the chamber to elect a presiding officer other than the Senate President, and the petitioners argue the change is void for failing to follow required procedures, including a one-day notice for amendments.
The Constitution assigns the chief justice to preside only when the president of the Philippines faces trial, and is silent on who leads when any other impeachable official is in the dock. Torreon’s camp reads that silence as reserving the role for the sitting Senate President — a post now held by Sherwin Gatchalian, who opened Monday’s session before the majority voted to seat Escudero in the chair.
Escudero had already confronted the objection during Monday’s opening, when Senator Alan Peter Cayetano raised a point of order questioning the arrangement. The presiding officer overruled him, holding that the amended resolution had been duly adopted and that any remaining dispute belonged either in Senate plenary or before the Supreme Court.
Impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol reinforced that position on Tuesday, telling reporters the trial would carry on because no restraining order had been issued. Should one eventually come down from the high court, he said, the impeachment court would decide as a collegial body whether to follow it, since no single member can speak for the tribunal.
Duterte skipped the first two hearings but appeared at the Senate on Tuesday to confer with her defense team before the prosecution opened its case under Article IV, the set of charges built around her alleged grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. A conviction would strip her of office and permanently bar her from any government post.
