Impeachment cases against BBM, Sara? Sotto says Senate will move ‘forthwith’

National

SENATE President Vicente Sotto III said the upper chamber would act without delay on any impeachment complaint transmitted to the Senate, amid renewed talk that both President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Vice President Sara Duterte could face impeachment bids this year.

Sotto stressed that once an impeachment case reaches the Senate, his role as presiding officer would be clear and nonnegotiable.

In a report by Philstar, Sotto said the chamber would move with speed and in accordance with the Constitution, signaling a departure from past controversies over delays in convening the Senate as an impeachment court.

His statement comes against the backdrop of criticism faced by his predecessor, then Senate President Francis Escudero, over the handling of the impeachment complaint against Duterte last year. The case, transmitted by the House of Representatives in early February, was not immediately taken up by the Senate.

When the Senate eventually convened as an impeachment court in June, it voted to return the complaint to the House, seeking a certification that the filing complied with constitutional requirements.

The move drew mixed reactions from lawmakers and legal experts, with some arguing it effectively stalled the process.

The issue was later settled by the Supreme Court, which struck down the complaint in July for violating the constitutional one-year ban on filing multiple impeachment cases against the same official.

Following the ruling, the Senate voted to archive the case.

Asked whether the Senate was already making

preparations for possible new impeachment complaints, Sotto pushed back, saying such discussions were premature. He noted that any impeachment case must first hurdle the House of Representatives before it could reach the Senate for trial.

Talk of a possible impeachment bid against President Marcos surfaced after House Senior Deputy Minority Leader Edgar Erice said two individuals closely linked to Vice President Duterte were preparing a complaint.

Erice said the alleged grounds involved betrayal of public trust connected to the national budgets from 2023 to 2025.(Xienderlyn Trinidad, USJ-R Comm Intern)