Palace to respect independence of senators in Merci impeachment

Malacañang on Tuesday vowed to respect the independence of each senator, including its allies, who will sit as judges in the impeachment court to be convened to hear the case against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez. “Hindi lang po ‘yung independence ng mga Liberal Party senators ‘yung ating nire-respeto but, again, the independence of each and every senator that is going to sit as a senator-judge," deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said at a press briefing. Despite this, the Aquino administration remains optimistic that the Senate proceedings will get the same result as that of the House of Representatives. “Umaasa at confident naman po tayo na magkakaroon po ng more or less the same... result in the Senate," Valte added. Voting 212-46 on early Tuesday morning, the House approved the articles of impeachment against Gutierrez due to low conviction rate of the Office of the Ombudsman during her term and supposed inaction on high profile cases. The members of the ruling Liberal Party (LP) in the Senate are Senators Franklin Drilon, Teofisto Guingona III, Francis Pangilinan and Ralph Recto. Asked if President Benigno Simeon Aquino III has requested his allies in the Senate to support the Gutierrez's trial at the upper chamber, Valte said “we recognize the independence of our senators but, yet again, we’d like to reiterate our confidence doon po sa magiging outcome ‘ng trial at the Senate." She added this was the reason LP senators were not included in the lunch fellowship of their party held a few weeks back which was attended by President Aquino. In that gathering, the President rallied his allies in the House to support the impeachment case against the Ombudsman. — LBG, GMA News