The House prosecution panel submitted to the Senate impeachment court three certifications, answering the June 10 remand of the impeachment case against Vice President Duterte, as Senate President Francis Escudero blames the ‘stubbornness’ of the House prosecution panel for the delays faced by the impeachment proceedings.

House prosecution panel spokesperson Antonio Bucoy said on Wednesday that they have submitted to the Senate impeachment court three certifications, the most important of which is the certification that the Vice President’s impeachment does not violate the Constitution.

“I confirm the filing of the submission of the first requirements, as well as the manifestation re the entry of appearance ad cautelam with re-submission of the entry of appearance of the public prosecutors,” Bucoy said in a message to the media.

The House prosecution team also re-submitted to the Senate impeachment court the entry of appearance of the 11 solon-prosecutors.

Meanwhile, in a press conference on Tuesday, Escudero said that the House was making the impeachment process ‘difficult’.

“I don’t want to jump the gun. Given how stubborn they are, since they won’t even accept the pleading, I wouldn’t be surprised if they will actually do that. Imagine, accepting the order, the answer, even the appearance, they make all of that difficult,” Escudero said.

Escudero said that he could not understand why the House prosecutors were making it difficult to follow the Senate impeachment courts’ orders ? certifying that they did not violate the one-year rule on the filing of impeachment complaints and communicating to the Senate that the 20th Congress is willing to pursue the case against Duterte ? when they are the ones pushing for Duterte’s impeachment.

The Senate President also explained that the House of Representatives will have to form a new prosecution panel under the 20th Congress, following the departure of some of its members following the recent elections.

In response, House of Representatives spokesperson Princess Abante insisted that the House prosecution panel does not intend to refuse to accept the formal entry of Vice President Sara Duterte’s counsel, reasoning that the House was just not properly informed about the nature of the documents submitted by the Vice President’s counsel.

“Attorney Bucoy has already mentioned that the prosecutors will comply with the necessary pleadings,” Abante said.

Vice President Duterte was impeached on February 5 by more than 200 legislators of the House of Representative over alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes. Velle White/DM