Senator Panfilo Lacson dropped a legal bombshell on Sunday: the six senators suspended over the P1.2-billion flood control scandal might still sit as judges in Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial.
Lacson, a former police chief who now chairs the Senate ethics committee, explained that preventive suspension only strips a senator of legislative functions — voting on bills, attending committee hearings. But the impeachment trial? That's a quasi-judicial function, not a legislative one. So the suspension may not apply there.
The six suspended senators — whose names haven't been officially released but are reportedly from both the majority and minority blocs — were implicated in the alleged overpricing and ghost projects under the Department of Public Works and Highways' flood control program. The scandal involves contracts awarded between 2020 and 2025, with some projects reportedly costing double their market value.
Here's the key: the Constitution gives the Senate sole power to try impeachments. And once the House of Representatives transmits the articles of impeachment — which it did for VP Sara in May — the Senate must convene as an impeachment court. No senator can be forced to recuse unless they voluntarily step down or the Senate as a whole votes to disqualify them.
But wait — there's a twist. If the Senate decides to sit as an impeachment court while the six are suspended, those senators would need to be physically present to vote. Could they attend? Lacson says yes, because the suspension order from the ethics committee only bars them from legislative sessions. The impeachment trial is a separate proceeding.
That interpretation is already sparking debate. Legal experts point to Section 16, Article VI of the 1987 Constitution, which says each house may suspend a member for disorderly behavior. But it doesn't say the suspension extends to impeachment duties. Lacson's reading seems to leave a loophole big enough for a truck.
VP Sara's camp, meanwhile, has kept quiet. Her impeachment, approved by the House in a 215-8 vote, centers on allegations of misuse of P612 million in confidential funds during her time as Education Secretary. She has denied any wrongdoing, calling the impeachment a political vendetta.
The suspended senators, if allowed to participate, could swing the trial. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote of all senators — that's 16 out of 24. With six seats potentially filled by suspended members, the math gets tricky. If they vote to acquit, the prosecution needs to flip more votes.
Lacson himself isn't suspended. He's one of the few senators not named in the flood control probe. His statement suggests he's preparing for a trial that could happen as early as July, once the Senate resolves the suspension mess.
For now, the Senate ethics committee is reviewing the suspension orders. A decision on whether the six can sit as senator-judges could come this week. If Lacson's view prevails, the impeachment trial will have all 24 senators — including the suspended ones — deciding the fate of the country's second-highest official.
That would be unprecedented. No senator has ever been under preventive suspension during an impeachment trial. And no vice president has ever been impeached in Philippine history. Sara Duterte's trial is already breaking records — and it hasn't even started.