SENATE President Chiz Escudero is a man of tricks. Escudero, or Tricky Tsis as pundits aptly call him, could be as slippery as an eel in his politics, but he could be tricky too as a magician. Incidentally, Congress resumed its regular session last Monday.
The 19th Congress was completing its business as it goes into sine die adjournment before the end of its term on June 30. On that day too, the 20th Congress takes over and the winners of the May 12 midterm elections take over the seats of those lawmakers, who either have lost, retired, or completed their terms.
About 240 members of the House of Representatives signed the Articles of Impeachment, which contains details of alleged wrongdoings committed by Vice President Sara Duterte. They include the Vice President’s public revelations of plans to murder President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez and alleged plunder of the P612 million in confidential funds given to the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education (Deped), which she headed as its secretary for two and a half years.
The House of Representatives impeached the Vice President on Feb. 4. House leaders submitted the Articles of Impeachment on Feb. 5, but Tricky Tsis sat on it and took no official action as he claimed Congress was in recess.
It stayed on the backburner as the political campaign heated up. Under the Constitution, the Senate has to convene as an impeachment court and put any impeached official under trial with the House of Representatives doing prosecution chores.
Tricky Tsis kept on postponing it even though the 1987 Constitution is clear on the mandate that the Senate has to take it up immediately after the House of Representatives has submitted the Articles of Impeachment against any of the impeachable officials of the country.
Tricky Tsis even went to the extent to give a ridiculous, albeit twisted, interpretation of the word “forthwith” in the Constitution. In his perverted mind, forthwith does not mean the immediate convening of the Senate as an impeachment court to try an impeachable official. The legal community laughed off Tricky Tsis’s convoluted interpretation of forthwith.
Tricky Tsis gave June 11 as the date for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court. But given the way senators spoke against the impeachment trial, the senators may not take their oath as senators-judges in the impeachment court. Sen. Francis Tolentino, who lost miserably in his reelection bid in last midterm elections, said that if the senators fail to convene as an impeachment court, the Articles of Impeachment could be considered “functionally dismissed.”
But it was only the limited view of a senator, who, as one of the 12 pro-administration senatorial candidates under the Alyansa sa Pagbabago coalition, finished dead last. Lesser known Heidi Mendoza, who did not have political ads and who spent only P2.5 million of limited personal funds, landed very much ahead of Tolentino with over 8.5 million votes. Tolentino, who spent almost P2 billion in campaign advertisements, lost dismally with only 7.5 million votes.
There are views that the Senate is a “continuing institution” and, as such, the matters and issues that have been brought to its official attention in the previous Congress remain in the next Congress. In brief, Tolentino gave a shortsighted interpretation. It was only his view and does not reflect the existing jurisprudence.
Tricky Tsis has all the reasons to delay the impeachment trial of the Vice President, who is often referred as “Misfit Sara” in social media. He has everything to gain if he succeeds to delay it or if he stops it. But he won’t gain much if it proceeds and Misfit Sara is proven guilty.
Tricky Tsis, although part of the coalition that supports the Marcos administration, is not exactly an insider. Although the country’s third highest political leader, he stays in the fringes. Deep in his heart he knows that the President has somebody in his mind to be his successor in 2028. He knows he won’t get his support because he is not one to be fully trusted by whoever is in power.
Tricky Tsis is best known for his political perfidy. He is notorious for having his own agenda in the spate of things. He is not known to be a team player. He is known to be a lone wolf, a political card known for acting alone without consulting or help from the other players. He has cultivated the image of a “political wild card,” who, by all means, could introduce intervening variables to derail any political plans by his political allies.
Tricky Tsis is eyeing the 2028 presidential elections. He knows Misfit Sara would somehow lose in the end. She may end up being included in the list of political figures to be indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with the crimes against humanity, which have been lodged by their political enemies against Rodrigo Duterte, his father.
In his computation, Misfit Sara could end up facing a spate of plunder charges to be lodged after the political storm arising from her impending impeachment trial. In the computation of Tricky Tsis’s evil mind, Misfit Sara is “damaged goods,” who is beyond political repair and redemption. The best option for him is to get the political constituency of the Dutertes. Tricky Tsis knows he has no chance in 2028 without the Dutertes’ political constituency.
Tricky Tsis knew he would not get the support of the so-called “Dilawan-Pinklawan” political constituency, or the political constituency of the Marcoses. He knows that all he has to do now is to get Misfit Sara’s support. He knows he can handle the other pretenders to that constituency – Bong Go, Bato dela Rosa, and Robin Padilla.He knows Bong Go and Bato dela Ros will have the same problems as Misfit Sara’s concerning the ICC.
Robin Padilla is not a problem because of his abject lack of mental capacity to judge the political situation and address it. Tricky Tsis is for himself. He will do everything to promote his own political agenda. He is as tricky as anyone could imagine.
From all looks of it, the “Oplan Stop Impeachment” is nothing but a conspiracy against the Filipino People. Tricky Tsis heads it.
