President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has defended Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero against criticisms that he allegedly prolonged the first impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte. According to President Marcos, these allegations are merely opinions and do not reflect Escudero's ability to lead the impeachment trial.
President Marcos cites Supreme Court decision
The President pointed out that the halt in the impeachment proceedings was due to a decision by the Supreme Court, not because of Escudero's leadership. He stated that the rules adopted by the Senate for the impeachment proceedings were prepared by Escudero himself, based on previous impeachment cases.
President Marcos responded after Senator Ping Lacson said that Escudero would be the presiding officer in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial on July 6. The House Prosecution Panel has expressed respect for the Senate's decision.
“Yeah, but those are opinions. I don’t think that reflects in any way on what – how he will do. As a matter of fact, the rules that were – the rules that were adopted by the Senate were the rules that Senator Chiz wrote during the last year’s impeachment – when they were handling the last year’s impeachment complaint. So in terms of his ability to be able to run the trial. I don’t think that’s in doubt. The – if you remember, the reason that the impeachment trial last year came to a stop was because of the Supreme Court decision. And that had nothing to do with Senator Chiz,” President Marcos said.
