As they prepare for ‘any eventuality,’ Senate President Vicente ‘Tito’ Sotto III on Monday reminded his colleagues to remain impartial in case the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte reach the upper chamber for trial.
The House of Representatives committee on justice is currently holding hearings to determine if there is probable cause to proceed with the impeachment trial. It is eyeing to conclude the proceedings by April 29.
On the part of the Senate, Sotto has met with his colleagues to give them ‘a heads up on the possibility of receiving the Articles of Impeachment’ from the lower chamber.
‘We are preparing for any eventuality,’ the Senate chief said in a Viber message.
‘Our rules are in place. I am brushing up on a combination of the rules of Court and impeachment Procedures.’
‘I will remind my colleagues to remain impartial in case the Articles of Impeachment reach us,’ Sotto further said.
This confirmed Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson’s statement earlier that they have been taking a crash program on the Rules of Court and Revised Rules on Criminal Procedure to prepare for the impeachment trial of the vice president.
Sotto deemed it ‘best’ to be ready for the trial as senator-judges.
‘I am undergoing a crash program on the Rules of Court to jibe with our own Rules,’ he also said in another Viber message.
Meanwhile, the Senate leader resented former presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo’s remark that only four senators, including him, would vote to convict the vice president.
‘Does Atty. Panelo have a crystal ball? We will remain impartial and wait for whatever will be presented. I resent that allegation,’ Sotto said.
The three others named in news reports were Lacson, and Sens. Francis Pangilinan and Risa Hontiveros.
It would not the be first time should the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte reach the Senate for trial.
In February, 2025, the House of the 19th Congress transmitted the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte accusing of her of committing high crimes such as corruption and involvement in an alleged plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and wife Liza, and then House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Also included in the complaint, among others, was her alleged misused of hundreds of millions in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she previously headed.
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Months after or in August last year, the Senate of the current 20th Congress voted to archive the complaint, after the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional.