President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he has no objection to the designation of Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero as presiding officer in the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte in the Senate.
Marcos said Escudero’s capability to handle the proceedings is not in question.
“In terms of Escudero’s ability, ‘I don’t think that’s in doubt,’” he said.
He also noted that the Senate rules to be applied in the impeachment trial were previously crafted by Escudero during last year’s impeachment proceedings.
“As a matter of fact, the rules that were adopted by the Senate were the rules that Senator Chiz wrote during last year’s impeachment, when they were handling the last year’s impeachment complaint,” he added.
Escudero previously presided over the Senate impeachment court in 2025, which was set to hear the case against Duterte before proceedings were halted.
Some sectors have raised questions about his continued fitness to preside over the trial, but Marcos dismissed such concerns as matters of opinion.
He said the earlier impeachment proceeding was affected by a 2015 Supreme Court ruling declaring the initial complaint against the Vice President unconstitutional.
“But those are opinions. I don’t think that reflects in any way on what – how he will do…In terms of his ability to be able to run the trial. I don’t think that’s in doubt,” he said.