Manila Times Columnist Says Marcos Has 'Weaponized' Impeachment and Criminal Law Against Senators Likely to Acquit Duterte
Manila Times columnist Rigoberto Tiglao argues the Marcos administration is using prosecutions to reshape the impeachment court trying VP Sara Duterte — the underlying senator cases are real; the "coordinated weaponization" claim is his own reading, not established fact.
In a September 21 column, Manila Times writer Rigoberto Tiglao argues that the Marcos administration has "weaponized" impeachment and criminal prosecution to influence the outcome of Vice President Sara Duterte's Senate impeachment trial, contending that the National Bureau of Investigation, government prosecutors, and even the constitutionally independent Ombudsman are moving against senators seen as likely to vote for her acquittal.
The underlying legal actions Tiglao cites are real and independently verifiable. Sen. Rodante Marcoleta remains detained on a non-bailable plunder charge tied to undisclosed campaign donations. Sen. Jinggoy Estrada was arrested in June on a plunder charge linked to the flood-control kickback scandal and remains at Quezon City Jail after an August arraignment. The Office of the Ombudsman has filed graft charges against Sens. Mark and Camille Villar, along with other Villar family members, over water-district joint-venture deals; Sen. Loren Legarda is under a separate Ombudsman inquiry tied to a solar-energy matter; and Sen. Robin Padilla faces a Department of Justice obstruction-of-justice complaint, referred by the PNP, over his role in Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa's departure from the Senate building shortly after an ICC arrest warrant against dela Rosa was confirmed.
Padilla has denied wrongdoing, saying "walang takas na naganap" (no escape occurred) and that dela Rosa simply rode with him while police were present nearby; he is due to appear before DOJ investigators later this month. Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief, faces an ICC warrant over alleged crimes against humanity as a co-perpetrator in the Duterte administration's anti-drug campaign.
What remains Tiglao's own interpretation — not a fact PostNetNews is asserting — is that these separate cases, spread across different agencies and courts, amount to a coordinated campaign timed to change the impeachment court's composition. The administration has not been reported responding directly to that specific characterization; each case above is being prosecuted through its own normal legal process, and none of the senators named has been convicted.
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