Reversal, reverse, and reverse again, Sarah's impeachment case ushered in a huge change again, and it seems to be moving in a direction that is not conducive to Duterte's camp.
On June 9, the Philippine Senate held a plenary meeting, and the Marcos Senators, senators from Duterte's camp and some centrists had a heated discussion on the Senate's delay in the impeachment case. It is said that the scene was filled with a strong smell of gunpowder.
After a five-hour "hard battle", Senator Escudro finally compromised and announced the initiation of the impeachment proceedings against Sarah. According to the resolution, Escudro will personally serve as the presiding judge of the impeachment court, and the remaining senators were sworn in as judge of the impeachment court the next day (June 10).
Judging from the results of the meeting, the Marcos camp has made a huge breakthrough. You should know that according to previous regulations, the impeachment team read the articles of impeachment at 4 pm on June 11 and then formed an impeachment court. Now it is 2 days ahead of schedule.
Moreover, the Marcos camp showed strong agenda control capabilities in this meeting, basically dominating the entire meeting process.
It was Senator Lisa Ontivello, a ally of Marcos, who advocated the initiation of the impeachment case two days in advance, and ally Pimentel III proposed that the Senate convene an impeachment court on its own, which was also adopted. The Marcos camp's strong control over the Senate is worthy of Duterte's vigilance.
Apart from this, another news is not conducive to the Duterte camp.
The Senate decided to hand over the verified impeachment motion to the Rules Committee. The committee head Francis Tolentino is a staunch ally of Marcos, and this arrangement undoubtedly creates favorable conditions for the subsequent advancement of the impeachment process.
Many netizens are confused, why did the impeachment case suddenly accelerate? Why did the Senate suddenly compromise? This is related to a series of actions in the Marcos camp.
In order to force the Senate to make concessions, under the operation of the Marcos camp, more than a dozen Philippine universities wrote articles to criticize the Senate almost at the same time, demanding that they should not delay the impeachment case without authorization, otherwise they would be suspected of illegality.
At the same time, a protest team composed of civil organizations, religious associations, gathered at the door of the Senate to demonstrate, and even rushed into the hall, demanding that the impeachment court be held immediately and the trial of Vice President Sarah.
The Akbayan Party is one of the groups involved in the demonstrations, and its chairman, Rafaela David, accused Senate Speaker Escudro and other Senate leaders of deliberately delaying the impeachment case in order to satisfy their political interests.
Faced with the surging public opinion pressure, Senate President Escudro eventually "pleaded guilty". Of course, Escudro's announcement of the impeachment case does not mean that he must stand on the sidelines of Marcos.
Escudro said in an interview with the media on the same day that whether it is impeachment of Sarah or supporting Sarah, he will maintain a neutral position and act in accordance with the law.
However, considering that he had voluntarily sought Duterte's support for re-election of the Senate and had repeatedly postponed the impeachment case, it is generally believed that he was slightly inclined toward Duterte's camp.
It is worth noting that although the impeachment case has been initiated, it does not mean that Marcos will definitely win.
A major problem that plagued Marcos' camp. There are only 20 days left before the Senate recession on June 30, and it is almost impossible to complete all impeachment procedures according to normal procedures.
To resolve this issue, Marcos' ally Tollentino once advocated that the impeachment case be tried on June 30 before the Senate was adjourned, but was rejected by other senators.
So it is highly likely that the impeachment case will continue to the next Senate. The problem is that Marcos does not have an advantage in the seat controlled by the next Senate. On the contrary, Duterte has received support from nine senators, which means that Duterte's camp may directly reject the impeachment case.
Original: Potato
