By Bagong Alyansang Makabayan
It will be another win for impunity for brazen corruption if the Senate’s first major act in the 20th Congress is to dismiss the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The Senate plan to vote against the impeachment is dishonorable, shameful, and malicious. It is not intended to uphold the rule of law but to allow an official accused of betrayal of public trust to evade accountability. It disregards the public clamor for truth, accountability, and justice.
The Senate will cement its reputation as an institutional enabler of corruption and impunity should it proceed with the impeachment voting. After months of delaying and sabotaging the impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte. The Senate will be exposed as colluding with an official accused of pocketing 600 million pesos in confidential funds instead of allowing the presentation of evidence and determining the truth about the anomalous use of public funds among other impeachable offenses.
Recently, several Senators have expressed disgust over the corruption-tainted flood control projects and the high number of legislators whose families are involved in government contracts. All this seemingly righteous indignation would appear hypocritical should the senators conspire to dismiss the impeachment case and derail the people’s demand to hold an egregiously erring official accountable.
We call on the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial instead of dismissing it. Let the prosecutors present evidence. Open the bank accounts of Duterte. Make Duterte explain how and why she spent 125 million pesos in 11 days. The delivery of justice is already unjustly delayed. Now the Senate appears determined to close all doors to make Duterte accountable for her impeachable offenses.
The Senate’s dereliction of its duty is a shameful betrayal of public trust that will spark public outrage, condemnation, and protests. We enjoin the people to remain vigilant and to persist in the fight for truth, accountability, and justice. #
