DAVAO CITY (MindaNews / 24 May) — Fugitive Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa should not be allowed to participate online in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, the House Prosecution Panel said amid moves to allow his virtual participation.
Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong, spokesperson for the 11-member panel, told the Saturday News Forum streamed live on the YouTube channel of the House of Representatives, that all senator-judges should personally attend the trial to evaluate the evidence and cross-examine witnesses who will take the witness stand.
Adiong stressed that physical presence of the senator-judges during the trial is indispensable to arrive at a fair judgment.
He said the impeachment process is not just an ordinary legislative function in which a Senator-judge can participate and cast his vote remotely via Zoom.
“What we’re talking about here is the accountability of an impeachable officer. I think, on that basis alone, that it is a sacred duty to be present at all times,” he said.
Being absent from the trial is an “indication that you are not taking your sacred duty seriously, which resonates with the public,” Adiong said.
On May 11, dela Rosa appeared to vote for a leadership change in the Senate after a six-month absence from the sessions.
The senator, who had been holed up inside the Senate and placed under its protective order, slipped out at around 2:30 a.m. on May 14 to evade arrest, just hours after shots were fired inside the building.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) classifies to Dela Rosa as a “suspect at large” while the Philippines’ Department of Justice has declared him as a “fugitive from justice.”
Adiong said online participation should not be allowed as senator-judges must be physically present so the public can draw their own conclusions whether they are performing their duties “fairly and honestly.”
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Melvin Matibag likewise believed that senator-judges must be present during the trial to “examine the behavior of the witnesses.”
“I don’t think it will be possible for somebody who is attending an online hearing to see the body language, the demeanor. It is like you are profiling a witness, what’s his behavior like, his mannerisms, and actions during the trial when the question is being asked,” he said.
Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday said the move to allow Dela Rosa’s online participation will likely fail. He said the Senate’s rules allow virtual participation only during instances of force majeure oand during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Senate convened as an impeachment court on May 18 and is scheduled to begin the trial on July 6.
On May 20, the Supreme Court en banc denied Dela Rosa’s interim relief for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/ or status quo ante order, seeking to block authorities from arresting him and sending him to the ICC.
The following day, Justice Secretary Fredderick A. Vida directed police and the NBI to enforce the “validly issued” arrest order from the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the fugitive Dela Rosa.
Dela Rosa has been named a co-perpetrator in the crimes against humanity, in connection with the bloody campaign against illegal drugs in the previous Duterte administration.
Matibag said investigators are backtracking the location of Dela Rosa from the time he left the Senate on May 14.
“At the same time, we already ordered all district and regional offices to do their own monitoring in their respective areas,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV / MindaNews)
