Camille Villar gets emotional, calls for respect for absent colleagues

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Senator-judge Camille Villar on Wednesday became emotional as she called on her fellow senators to respect colleagues who are absent from the impeachment trial due to legal and health issues.

Villar stood during the 29th day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial after Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo reiterated his call for the Senate impeachment court to reconsider its ruling on the absence of several colleagues, which he said could affect the voting threshold needed to convict Duterte.

“The present realities that some of our members are beyond the coercive power or jurisdiction of the Senate, one is on a medical leave abroad, with no definite return date,” Tulfo said.

“Another is in hiding. Two others are under the custody of the Sandiganbayan or the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Ito po ang factual circumstances na umiiral ngayon. At hindi naman po ito umiiral o umiral nung tayo po ay nagsisimula pa lamang sa ating proceedings,” he added.

(These are the factual circumstances that exist now. These circumstances did not exist when we were just starting our proceedings.)

He was referring to Senator-judge Loren Legarda, who is currently on extended medical leave, Senator-judges Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, who are detained in connection with plunder charges, and Senator-Judge Ronald dela Rosa, who remains at large following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.

Tulfo said the framers of the 1987 Constitution set the two-thirds supermajority requirement as a safeguard against the possible abuse of the impeachment power, as they did not foresee that senators themselves could face criminal and plunder charges.

“Because it is a fraction, the mathematical baseline dynamically moves or varies depending on structural, operational, situational factors affecting the Senate composition,” he said.

“Ang mga kaso po ng mga senador noon, either subversion, sedition, yun po ang mga kaso. Pero ang mga senador po ay hindi po nakakasuhan ng kriminal, plunder, at kung ano-ano pa,” Tulfo added.

(Senators in the past faced cases involving subversion and sedition. But senators were not being charged with criminal offenses, plunder and other similar cases.)

Villar then interjected, saying the absent senators should not be attacked over their cases.

“While I respect all of my colleagues here, all of you, I think we should be reminded that all of the senators that are detained and who are not here right now, that is not their choice,” she said, becoming emotional.

Villar said the absent senators should not be labelled as criminals because they have yet to be convicted of the charges they are facing.

“And I think it is unfair to call them out that their crimes are plunder and theft because none of those senators have been convicted. There are even a lot of questions why they are not here in the first place,” she said.

“As the youngest member of this august body, can we stop it? With these attacks on each other?” she added.

At the start of the impeachment trial, Senator impeachment court presiding officer Francis Escudero then stressed that the 1987 Constitution provides that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate, or 16 votes.— MCG, GMA News