Impeachment case still strong regardless of poll results – Chua

Manila Rep. Joel Chua —House of Representatives photo

MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte remains strong regardless of poll results, as Manila Representative-elect Joel Chua believes overwhelming evidence will be considered by senators.

Chua in an online interview on Wednesday with reporters covering the House of Representatives admitted that with the prospective Magic 12 in the senatorial race, it will be a challenge to sway senator-judges toward their case as many of Duterte’s allies are poised to win.

However, Chua believes that the quantum of evidence that the House prosecution team has gathered will be enough to convince “reasonable” senators.

“Well, if we look at the winners, it’s very tough and very challenging. But maybe, I believe that at the end of the day, what they will consider and give more importance to is what the people want,” Chua, a member of the prosecution panel, said.

READ: De Lima accepts House invitation to join impeachment prosec team

“If the evidence will be our basis, I believe that our good senators will fulfill their duty based on evidence and not on party lines. I remain confident because I believe all our senators are reasonable people,” he added.

If the senators would still not agree with the prosecution after the trial despite the magnitude of evidence present, Chua said it will be up to them to explain this to the people.

“What is stated there, the evidence, is present. So I think when it comes to evidence, it is there, it is intact. But at the end of the day, of course the senator-judges, they will be the one to appreciate the evidence that we will provide,” he said.

“So with that, if the evidence is very overwhelming, very blatant, very obvious, I don’t see any reason why they will not favor our side. Otherwise, they need to explain to the people why they made such a vote.”

After the Commission on Elections (Comelec) partial and unofficial count showed a glimpse of who will join the Senate in the 20th Congress, several observers and pundits have questioned whether the House prosecution team can still secure convictions during Duterte’s impeachment trial.

As of 5:25 p.m. of Wednesday, the partial and unofficial tally reflected on Comelec’s transparency servers show that at least five of Duterte’s known allies are inside the Magic 12—Senator Christopher “Bong” Go who ranks first, Senator Ronald dela Rosa (third), Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta (sixth), Deputy Speaker Camille Villar (10th), and Senator Imee Marcos (12th).

Go, Dela Rosa, and Marcoleta are part of the so-called “DuterTen”, or the slate from Partido Demokratiko Pilipino that is headed by Duterte’s father, former president Sara Duterte. Villar and Marcos hail from the Nacionalista Party (NP), but both received endorsements from Duterte during the campaign period.

READ: VP Duterte cites trust in Imee Marcos in ‘ITIM’ campaign ad

If all of these five vote against Duterte’s conviction, this means the Vice President would just need four more allies in the Senate to ensure acquittal as the rules state that an impeachable officer is convicted through a two-thirds vote of all senator-judges.

With 24 senators, a vote of 16 members for conviction will mean that the impeachable officer is convicted.

Duterte was impeached by the House last February 5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint. The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-thirds of all House members—in this case, 102 out of 306—have signed and endorsed the petition.

The articles of impeachment were based on issues involving confidential funds within Duterte’s offices, her threats to Romualdez, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and overall conduct that is supposedly unbecoming of a vice president.

However, trial has yet to start as the articles of impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before session ended on February 5—which means that Congress would have to reconvene first after the election season, or through a special session to discuss the matter.

Immediately after the elections though, significant developments regarding the impeachment have started to materialize. Earlier, former senator Leila de Lima confirmed that she has accepted the invite extended by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez for her to be part of the prosecution panel.

De Lima is expected, if Comelec’s unofficial tally will hold true, to make a return to Congress as ML party-list’s first representative. ML party-list is currently ranked 14th with over 541,000 votes.

In a later statement, De Lima said her decision comes from a “place of duty and principle”—as she believes that public officers must be held accountable for issues.

Romualdez meanwhile said de Lima and human rights lawyer Chel Diokno are welcome additions to the impeachment panel.

Diokno is also expected to get a seat in Congress, with Akbayan currently topping Comelec’s quick unofficial count with over 2.75 million votes.

Chua also said earlier that de Lima and Diokno will boost the prosecution team. /cb