Senators ditched duty as impartial impeachment trial judges – lawyer
MANILA, Philippines – The senators who voted to remand the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives have effectively crossed a line from being impartial judges to de facto counsel, a legal expert said Wednesday.
After convening as an impeachment court, the senators approved the motion of Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to remand the impeachment complaint to allow the House to rectify the supposed “constitutional infirmities” of the articles of impeachment raised by Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa.
READ: Sara Duterte impeachment court opens, but raps ‘remanded’ to House
“They took the cudgels for Duterte—filing a motion she alone should have filed as part of her formal defenses. In doing so, they abandoned their constitutional duty to serve as impartial judges and, more importantly, failed the Filipino people who have long awaited resolution of this case,” Atty. Romulo Macalintal, a known election lawyer, said in a statement.
Macalintal’s strongly worded statement said the senators’ actions “is nothing short of frivolous—if not outright absurd—for these senators to make such a move after sitting on the case since February 2025.”
He said the “constitutional sleight of hand” not only “reeks of political accommodation” but also exposed the weakness of the current Senate that completely “disregarded the public interest and dashed the expectations of citizens who hoped for an impartial, speedy trial.”
“Where else can you find a court where the judge himself files a motion in his own court and proceeds to rule on it, again in his own court? That is precisely what happened here. The senators, acting as judges in the impeachment court, entertained a motion, which they themselves filed, to remand the case for “clarification”—a move that should have come from Duterte herself, not the tribunal adjudicating her case. Their action undermines the very essence of judicial impartiality and due process,” he said.
The Senate’s inaction or lack of resolve has already tested public patience.
Several university heads and institutions have issued manifestos urging the Senate to begin the trial without further delay. Yet, amid this national clamor, the Senate chose instead to act in defense of the respondent preemptively.
“By stepping into the shoes of Duterte, certain senators have already cast a shadow of bias on their role in the impeachment trial. This display of partiality could serve as a valid ground for inhibition,” Macalintal said.
Macalintal reminded the senators or the so-called “Duterte block” at the Senate that “they are not Sara Duterte’s legal team. They are members of the impeachment court, duty-bound to decide—not to side.”
“Let Duterte speak for herself. The Senate must remain what the Constitution intended it to be in this context: an impartial court, not a partisan refuge,” he said.
