The ongoing political friction within the Senate should not disrupt the constitutional process or overshadow the presentation of evidence in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, according to Kabataan Party-list Representative Renee Co.
Speaking in a televised interview, Co, a spokesperson for the House prosecution team, emphasized that the proceedings must remain laser-focused on accountability and due process, rather than the internal power struggles of the upper chamber.
“Naniniwala tayo na hindi dapat maapektuhan ng kung anumang gulo sa Senate leadership ang proseso ng pananagutan,” Co said when questioned about whether the prosecution team fears the current majority bloc or expects another leadership shakeup.
(We believe that the process of accountability should not be affected by whatever turmoil there is in the Senate leadership.)
Co maintained that the Senate’s constitutional duty to try the Vice President stands firm, regardless of who sits at the helm of the chamber.
“At sa puno’t dulo, lahat ng ebidensyang naipresenta, mailatag, hindi ma-exclude, at mabigyan ‘yung mamamayan ng impormasyon na taon-taon na nilang hinihintay,” she said. “And makamit natin yung accountability na noon at hanggang ngayon sinusulong natin.”
(And at the very core, all the evidence presented must be laid out, not excluded, and the citizens must be given the information they have been waiting for year after year. And for us to achieve the accountability that we have been pushing for then and until now.)
The lawmaker’s remarks come amid rising public concern that the Duterte-allied majority bloc, currently led by Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, might sway the verdict of the high-stakes proceedings.
The Senate officially convened as an impeachment court on Monday, with 23 lawmakers taking their oaths as senator-judges in a historic trial that hangs over the political future of the Vice President.