Senator Alan Peter Cayetano’s rhetorical strategy in the Duterte impeachment trial includes a favorite trick: First he says one thing, then he does the opposite.
On July 15, the sixth day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator Alan Peter Cayetano stood up to respond to statements made in an interview by National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Director Melvin Matibag. The director had visited the Clark freeport zone to pursue one case, but, as he told reporters following him, he was convinced by a visit to the site of the 2019 Southeast Asian Games that the allegations of irregularity that have hounded the Games deserved to be investigated too. Cayetano famously chaired the Games’ organizing committee.
This was a needlessly provocative statement from the already controversial NBI director, who, by the time of his visit to Clark, was already scheduled to testify in the impeachment trial. Senator Robin Padilla was provoked enough to call attention to it as soon as the trial resumed on July 15.
After Padilla spoke, Cayetano took to the floor and, noting that the Rules of the Senate were “suppletory” to the rules governing the impeachment court, argued that a senator-judge may make a privilege speech even in open court. (Senator Kiko Pangilinan’s rejoinder suggests that this view is eminently disputable.)
