Escudero: all signatures in Duterte’s impeachment handwritten

Senate President Francis Escudero (Photo: Senate of the Philippines/Facebook)

By Wilnard Bacelonia, Philippine News Agency

MANILA – Senate President Francis Escudero on Monday confirmed that all 215 lawmakers who signed the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte did so using handwritten, or “wet,” signatures, not electronic ones.

“Visually, na-verify na yung lahat ng 215 signatures na wet signatures nga. Tiningnan yan ng hindi bababa sa apat na tao, nang hindi bababa sa dalawang beses kada tao (Visually, we have verified that all 215 signatures are indeed wet signatures. At least four people reviewed them, each examining them no less than twice),” Escudero said in a press briefing.

He disclosed that they even availed of a service of an online application to verify whether the signatures are really wet signatures or e-signatures “just to further validate.”

He explained that the Senate Secretariat is responsible for verifying that the impeachment complaint meets the constitutional requirement of at least one-third of House members signing with wet signatures, noting that electronic signatures are not allowed in impeachment complaints.

“Simple lang naman ang trabaho namin eh: tingnan kung wet signature nga yun dahil dapat verified yun sa harap ng Secretary General [ng House of Representatives] at tingnan kung yung 215 o higit sa one third ay mga kongresista nga ba talaga o hindi na (Our job is simple: verify if these are wet signatures, as they must be signed in front of the House Secretary General, and confirm that at least 215 or more than one-third of the signatories are actual members of the House of Representatives),” he said.

The Senate President explained earlier that under the law, e-signatures are only valid for resolutions, proposed bills, and committee reports, but not for impeachment complaints.

With the verification process underway, Escudero assured that the Senate would handle the impeachment case without special treatment, following constitutional guidelines and precedents.