TRICKY Tsis has admitted that the Rules of Procedures on Impeachment Trials, which governs the Senate as an impeachment court, needs an update. Although Tricky Tsis did not specify which areas in the Rules of Procedure need changes and update, he indicated that it has to be amended to adapt to the current times, when senators are perceived to be less competent and not exactly adept in their legislative works and even in the provisions of the 1987 Constitution. It has been proposed that the incoming members of the Senate of the 20th Congress undertake a grinding crash program on the 1987 Constitution.
The Rules of Procedures contains a compendium of the do’s and don’ts, which a senator has to subscribe, adhere, and follow when the Senate convenes as an impeachment court to hold trial of any impeached public official. The 1987 Constitution identifies the impeachable state officials as follows: President, Vice President, magistrates of the Supreme Court including the Chief Justice, chairs and commissioners of constitutional offices like the Commission on Elections, Commission on Audit, Civil Service Commission, and the Commission on Human Rights.
In the post-Ferdinand Marcos Sr. era, only three public officials were impeached: Joseph Estrada as president; Merceditas Gutierrez, as the Ombudsman; and Renato Corona, as the Chief Justice. Gutierrez resigned in 2004 even before her impeachment trial. Estrada resigned in 2001 when a popular uprising stopped her trial. Corona underwent in 2012 a complete impeachment trial but lost and was removed from his post.
The Rules of Procedures has been developed and codified during the full-blown impeachment trial of Corona. At that time, the Senate was composed mostly of senators, who were highly regarded. The Rules of Procedures, according to Tricky Tsis, needs adjustment to make it responsive to modern times. “It was completed many years ago,” he said without explaining how the senators’ quality has deteriorated over the years.
Lawyer Jennifer Arlene Reyes, a constitutional law expert, told members of the Monday Circle, a social club of businessmen, professional leaders, and media practitioners, that one of the possible changes in the Rules of Procedures could be to empower the Senate or any other body to handle senators, who have shown manifest partiality to whoever undergoes an impeachment trial. She did not elaborate on the possible changes, but totally agreed on the immediate necessity.
Reyes, who has written two books on constitutional law and, who, as an academic, teaches the subjects of constitutional law and political law in several law schools, admitted that the Senate, at the moment and under its current rules, has no way to discipline senators, who keep on spewing statements that tend either to defend or exculpate Misfit Sara of the charges imputed on her by the Articles of Impeachment, which 240 members of the House of Representatives have signed and submitted to the Senate for impeachment trial on Feb.5, or more than four months ago.
Four or five senators have shown evident partiality for Misfit Sara. Bato dela Rosa, a mediocre senator of unproven knack, tops the list, as he said the Misfit has the number to get a “no guilty” decision from the incoming Senate of the 20th Congress. Bato did not identify the senators, whom he thought were inclined to exculpate the Misfit of her guilt.
Bato sustained the views of Francis Tolentino, an outgoing senator, who claimed that the Articles could be regarded as “functionally dismissed” if the Senate failed to act on it by June 30. Bato moved for the Articles’ outright dismissal in the June 11 regular session of the Senate as an impeachment court. Bato and Tolentino did not get the number to support their contention, but they got an amendment to remand the Articles to the House from where it originated.
Reyes disagreed with the remand order, claiming there was nothing to remand because the Senate did not make any presumption of regularity or legality in what the House submitted to them. This was something basic in the relations of state agencies, according to Reyes. A presumption of regularity and legality has to be made and should be always present.
Robin Padilla and Imee Marcos have likewise made public statements of open support to the Misfit. They joined her when she went to Malaysia, where she talked in a gathering of OFWs there. Robin never denied he is a stooge of the Dutertes. He ran and won as senator in 2022 under the Dutertes’ political party – PDP-Laban.
Imee has been steadily associated with the Misfit. When surveys showed she was losing in the 2025 senatorial elections, she went to the Misfit to ask for her support. She got it and won by the skin of her teeth – she landed 12th and last in the winning column.
Tricky Chiz and Bong Go likewise issued public statements of marked partiality to the Misfit. They could be openly challenged and proven to have been partial to the Misfit. They were publicly perceived to support the Misfit.
Reyes did not provide pertinent details on how to rein in senators from issuing pro-Misfit Sara statements and from being perceived by the public as “biased” judges in the impeachment trial of Misfit Sara. This could be the subject of intense public discussions as senators sit as judges in the Senate as an impeachment court.
