TWO leaders of the Young Guns bloc in the House of Representatives on Thursday urged senators to heed the growing clamor from the public and people’s organizations for an early Senate trial of impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.

Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union and Assistant Majority Leader Ernesto Dionisio Jr. of Manila made the appeal in a news conference in the wake of the plan of progressive groups to hold rallies urging the Senate to convene soon as an impeachment court.

“Well, na impeach na kasi siya (VP Duterte) sa House e, sabi ko nga, wala na sa court natin ‘yung bola. Athough we understand naman na may mga frustrations coming from different groups. Kami naman dito sa House of Representatives ay siyempre nirerespeto din namin ‘yung jurisdiction nila. Pero dapat makinig din po sila sa pulso ng nakakarami,” Ortega said.

“Pero sabi ko nga, mahirap naman na panghimasukan ‘yung bagay na ‘yon. Although kung ganyang kalaki ang clamor ng public, siguro kailangan nilang i-reassess or tingnan nila what’s the best course of action na i-take,” he said.

Dionisio called attention to the command of the Constitution for the Senate to “proceed with the trial forthwith” if an impeachment complaint is signed by one-third of all members of the House of Representatives.

The impeachment petition against VP Duterte was signed by 215 House members, more than two-thirds of the 306-strong larger chamber of Congress.

“Well…narinig ko kasi ‘yung word na ‘forthwith.’ It simply means, if I’m not mistaken it has to be immediate without delay. Relative kasi ‘yung delay…ang analogy ko lang, in my humble opinion, kayo, tayo mga Pilipino pag sinabing immediate, kailangan may kailangan kang gawin,” Dionisio said.

“Immediate, kailangan bayaran mo ‘yung kuryente mo, kailangan bayaran mo yung tuition ng anak mo, kailangan immediate makabili ka nung gamot ng pamilya mo. When you say immediate, dapat agaran. You go out of your way para magawa agad if it’s immediate, ‘yun ‘yung forthwith. So in my opinion, that’s what should be done,” he said.

He reiterated that it would be up to senators to interpret the directive of the Constitution.

“But again like what Cong. Paolo (Ortega) was saying, na mahirap panghimasukan ‘yung desisyon ng Senate and we respect our co-equal branch in Senate,” he said.

Ortega expressed agreement with those calling for an early trial that a delay of more than four months because of the current election campaign is too long.

However, he expressed confidence that senators would do the right thing and heed the call to action.

“Medyo matagal nga yong four months. Pero you have to understand also na special po yung sitwasyon ngayon dahil kampanya…Pero sabi ko nga, mataas po ang respeto natin sa Senado. Alam po natin na, may tiwala na gagawin nila ‘yung tama at gagawin nila ‘yung, at mararamdaman po nila ang pulso ng taong bayan. Sigurado naman ako na hindi sila magdadalawang isip na tugunan ‘yung, kumbaga yung call to action ng taong bayan,” he said.

He said it is the right of people’s organizations to call for VP Duterte’s trial to proceed without delay.

“Kasi they have done it before, ginawa narin po nila sa harap ng Senado. Karapatan naman po nung mga progressive groups or kung may mga nag nanais po na umusad po ito. Again, sabi ko nga po on our part, sa Kongreso po nasa court na nila ang bola. So we leave it up to the wisdom of the Senate,” he added.

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Ryan Ponce Pacpaco