The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, October 12, encountered a hiccup.
Shortly after the opening prayer of Senator-judge Mark Villar, the trial paused for several minutes, over what could be a scare on the lack of quorum of the Senate impeachment court.
Only 11 senator-judges were present in the proceedings at 10 am. The court reached quorum with 13 senator-judges present at around 10:08 am, following the arrival of senator-judges Camille Villar and Robin Padilla.
Senator-judges Imee Marcos, Alan Peter Cayetano, Bong Go, and Pia Cayetano — all minority-allied — were absent during the roll call. However, Go and Pia Cayetano were present in the afternoon proceedings.
This is the second time since last week the court proceeded with only 13 senator-judges present. Usually, at least 14 to 15 senator-judges participate in the proceedings.
The initial lack of quorum comes amid questions over the minority bloc’s participation in the trial. Over the weekend, Padilla said members of the Senate minority bloc may skip the impeachment proceedings over what they call is “distortion” of the Constitution.
Padilla and Go previously filed a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the September 23 decision of the impeachment court that lowered the conviction threshold.
Padilla also claimed last weekend that there was “disregard for law” in the impeachment proceedings, despite the general impression that presiding officer Chiz Escudero had been doing fairly well in managing the trial.
Padilla’s comment that did not sit well with his colleagues, including Senator-judge Panfilo “Ping” Lacson.
“I don’t know what Sen. Padilla meant by ‘disregard for law’ or if he was referring to the entire impeachment court na member din naman siya. If so, hindi kaya maituturing na direct assault sa integridad ng korte ang mga bibitiwan niyang pananalita?” he said.
(I don’t know what Sen. Padilla meant by “disregard for law” or if he was referring to the entire impeachment court where he is a member. If so, won’t his remark be taken as a direct assault on the integrity of the impeachment court?)
Lacson added that if Padilla was referring to individual senators, then he should just go and name them.
On Monday, Padilla did not only attend the trial but was also among those who made interjections following the testimony of foreign financial analyst Alexander Cabrera, who had pegged the Vice President’s undeclared wealth at P817 million from 2022 to 2025. This amount, Cabrera testified before the court, could even reach as high as P1.5 billion.
With the defense expected to present evidence after the trial break, or from November 9 onwards, will there no longer be any quorum issues? – Rappler.com