Coseteng on VP Sara impeachment trial: 'The circus came to town' — ANC

[0:05] hello everyone i'm rico he's on from a shooting incident to plunder charges and now an impeachment [0:12] trial the philippine senate's reputation has never been more at stake today on beyond the [0:18] exchange we speak with one of the chamber's former members nikki coseteng say nikki great to have you [0:25] with us on beyond the exchange thank you rico for inviting me consider bringing that i was i am not [0:31] a sitting member anymore yes but of course your experiences uh with uh an impeachment trial that [0:38] took place uh 26 years ago we're concentrating on this one or no but i would like to ask you [0:45] now sen nikki um what are your first impressions on the first few days of this impeachment trial [0:52] of of vice president sarah duterte i'd rather look at the bigger picture i mean the first few days is [0:59] well the the prosecution and the defense will have to you know put out their own um declarations [1:08] and um however the impeachment as an event for our country i think it's it's a little sad primarily [1:19] because to me it looks like a diversionary tactic it looks like um linilihis yung ating attention dun [1:28] so mas mahalagang bagay there's so many things going on not just in the country but throughout the [1:34] world you have the u.s israel um versus iran war you have extreme poverty that we see with our eyes of [1:44] course it's not to say that many people have improved their lives because they're working overseas or they [1:49] put up small um businesses from profits from their overseas relatives you know but still by and large it's a [1:58] sense of hopelessness and helplessness it's anger it's frustration and it's the inability to do [2:06] something because they can't or they feel straight jacketed okay so paramali is yung usapan sa mga ganyan [2:14] we have now a circus that comes to town but uh senator nikki uh this impeachment trial only takes up three [2:21] days during the week and the remaining two days is everybody everybody talking about it wasting their [2:26] time talking about it i mean laws i mean the bills that involve uh the public good the economy problems [2:36] of the country so don't you think that it has that it's divided between the impeachment trial and and [2:43] issues that need to be addressed by our lawmakers yeah but you know uh fundamentally the issue that's [2:50] that we are trying to address is the issue of corruption so we are now in a situation where we are accusing [2:58] a um public official of such a sitting vice president sitting vice president and forgoing the rest of [3:08] to me of whom are equally if not more guilty you know violating the same rules that um she is supposed to [3:18] have violated so i find that this is also sad another reason why because we're driving a wedge we're dividing the [3:26] people people pro duterte ka ba or pro marcos if you say one thing inclined to supporting marcos oh you're [3:34] anti-duterte and that's bad as far as they're concerned if you say one little thing inclined to [3:39] support the position of the vice president then oh you're anti-duterte you're not going to win the [3:44] next elections you know parang bakit ka ganyan so why are we dividing the people when to begin with the [3:51] marcos duterte ticket was supposed to unify a an already divided um citizenry at that time so [4:01] sam nikki is this impeachment trial politically motivated is it all about bringing down the vice [4:09] president so she cannot run uh for the presidency in 2028 or is it all about accountability transparency and [4:19] fighting corruption well if that's the case then we have to file cases against oh my god a couple [4:25] of hundred people and how long is it going to take because if you're fighting corruption let's go back [4:33] let's go back not even the centuries back the decades back let's just go back at what actually triggered [4:41] this you have the ghost projects but remember that's only only ghost projects involving flood control [4:49] projects involving the dpwh you're not even putting into that big basket the bureau of customs the bir the [4:58] department of education transportation health etc go down the line even the small lto maybe the pnp [5:05] maybe the armed forces you the office of the president you've got to open the whole can of worms [5:10] right so if it is corruption we are against then the impeachment is such a huge huge um [5:18] um cataclysmic you know um endeavor and for one person right but there are others even other persons [5:32] just one of them that maybe um involve a hundred times more than that one person that we are focusing [5:41] this cataclysmic event so you being used as an example yeah because of example yan you impeachment [5:49] because that's different from just a matter of corruption if it's corruption you can charge them [5:54] tomorrow and get it over and done with in a couple of days or weeks or whatever it's maliwanag [5:59] sino ba at magkano ba so i don't even want to deal with the facts and figures because sometimes [6:04] they're distorted sometimes they're you know plus and minus here and there but whatever she is uh [6:09] being accused of in terms of money there must be somebody else that is that could be accused of [6:15] by even just five pesos more and it's still more than what she's being accused of right but that [6:21] does not mean impeachment because you impeachment that's a totally different thing altogether [6:27] so you're saying then uh said nikki that just keep the status quo no impeachment trial and let the [6:34] people decide in 2028 who they want to be the next president you say i i i think there's many things [6:43] now involved yeah that's one thing that's one thing and the other thing is does the president not [6:49] have intelligence funds himself himself yeah in the billions of in the billions of pesos is it more [6:57] or less than the vice president's why is he not being investigated and it seems like precisely this [7:04] impeachment um case is now a tactic para maalis ang usapan malihis ang usapan at huwag na natin [7:14] pag-usapan yung mga trillions palagay ko hindi more than trillions more than just one trillion [7:20] yan eh di ba kung kung titignan natin lahat if we're gonna if we are going to dig deep into it it's [7:25] more than just one trillion but uh there was already a move in the lower house uh sen nikki uh to also [7:30] impeach uh president uh ferdinand marcus jr but it did not move forward but this one of the vice [7:36] president is now where it's at if the impeachment against the president did not move forward does it [7:45] mean that he is cleared of whatever he had done with the um intelligence funds assuming that we are [7:52] just discussing intelligence funds or maybe even the flood control projects yes because because these [7:57] are other or the allocation of budgets in the 2020 uh 2024 2025 which they say was the most corrupt [8:04] in philippine history and what are they going to say now about the 2026 you know i mean i remember [8:09] there was a contractor that told me and mom talagang alam namin yan eh sabi ko bakit eh kasi sabi [8:16] samin eh ito yung project ito yung project ilagay sa budget pero wag nyo nagawin yan para next year [8:22] meron na namang ulit allocation next year meron na namang ulit allocation so it's a grand plan it's a grand [8:28] design and let's not talk about um uh just um the crime or the violation committed right think of [8:37] how many people's lives are on the line i mean so many other consequences of all of this you know [8:49] in all the different uh agencies and departments of government so nikki let's try to make some [8:55] comparisons here between this impeachment trial for sitting vice president and in in in uh 26 years [9:01] ago a sitting president which is a historic impeachment trial do you see any uh differences [9:08] and how different how different was it then and comparing it to today oh it's it was different then [9:16] i think the personalities that are involved number one are completely different um the composition [9:22] of the senate then and now were also different um i think the the issues at hand are also different [9:30] i remember you know i mean 26 years ago i hardly remember very i i do not remember very much but [9:37] i remember it was very controversial um it was also quite emotional because um the president uh was uh [9:46] uh enjoying a rather popular um what do you call his approval rating you know that time second the [9:55] articles of impeachment were very clearly spelled out i believe there were four or five articles of [10:00] impeachment i can't recall now you know that were easily spelled out the basis of this impeachment trial [10:07] um so when items came in that were not part of that the articles of impeachment that were were brought [10:15] forward as the reason for this trial um i remember it was justice davide he came to the senate and i asked [10:24] him a question are you supposed to include in this particular trial other materials that were not [10:33] originally in the right in the impeachment um uh issues and you voted against opening the second envelope [10:42] that was never part of that impeachment that second envelope was not part of the four articles so [10:50] because that was a um what you call is the word that i received directly from chief justice davide [10:59] so we voted we voted we voted i voted for that yes it's got nothing to do with arab is guilty or not [11:06] guilty well iyon that other that envelope should be a process as far as i was concerned then a process [11:14] of another process of another process not don't include that in this because dito maliwanag [11:20] yung dahilan eh kung bakit nyo ini-impage si era dadagdagan sasabihin nyo meron dito may crime [11:26] dito may murder make may estafa may well hindi pwede ganun these are the reason even if i file a case [11:32] against you for estafa and it's a hundred million pesos the minute the trial goes on i cannot now say include [11:41] natin yung murder yung kidnapping yung arson hindi ko pwede gawin yon hindi ba so senator nicky [11:48] you voted not to open yes second envelope yes 26 years later on these grounds would you still on these [11:55] grounds would you still stand by that vote the the law i think has not changed unless it has changed in [12:01] between the within those 26 years because it's just it's just a simple case [12:07] pag ikaw kinasuhan ko diba pag ikaw kinasuhan ko ng estafa at nandyan na yung hearing hindi pwedeng [12:14] lahat ng kasalanan na maiisip po idadagdag ko dyan hindi you file another case for those other crimes [12:21] that you say i committed but don't lump it all in in in in this one trial yeah that that was just so you [12:27] you would stand by your vote yeah that was my simple vote shot i could have been killed i could [12:31] have been sued i could have been jailed i could have been uh you know crucified whatever but the [12:37] the usapan was wala yon dun sa apat na articles of impeachment that's the whole thing that only [12:44] resonates in my mind the other partisan emotional arab kaba o hindi no it just so happens that it benefited [12:53] president estrada i'm not saying he's not guilty of all of those i'm not saying that the issue is are [13:01] you going to include it because it was not included in the articles of impeachment basically let's that [13:07] was my basic simple minded non-lawyer understanding yes bottom line you stood by your principles 26 years [13:16] ago that was that was how i felt then that's how i feel now you know so now i'm just saying that um [13:23] considering the other um concrete objective conditions that prevail in our country today [13:30] to me the impeachment is not a primary primary of it's not of primary importance basically that's [13:37] just how i feel and it's got nothing to do with whether i'm pro-sara or pro-marcos [13:43] because that opinion you know now they're coming out with all kinds of names pink lawans the lawans all [13:51] these lawans and whatever i said um what's all this number one corruption what is the president what [14:00] has the president done been how does he look like the vice president the members of the house the [14:06] members of the senate we're we're blowing um we're blowing a ton of dynamite on our own institutions and [14:13] it's sad because i was a member of that institution and i feel a deep sense of regret i was in the anti-marcos [14:20] movement way before marcos junior even uh you know was was involved in in any kind of political [14:28] activity right marcos and i ran under the same ticket under ambassador the rinko juanco when he [14:35] ran for president ferdinand marcos jr was in our same ticket because the npc was really a um a broad [14:45] a broad coalition of many different parties most of whom were pro-marcos most of whom were pro-marcos i [14:53] mean i was maybe just one of the anti-marcos persons but what i felt then against marcos senior what we [15:03] went through and up to now against marcos jr i have been very consistent we've been having a very lively [15:11] conversation even during the break so uh senator nikki um this impeachment trial could take several [15:19] months or years or even years all the way up to maybe uh before the uh may 2028 uh presidential [15:29] election if it will happen if it will happen if she's not impeached could this backfire on the marcos [15:35] administration because it would look like that the vice president sarah duterte is a political [15:41] victim well i think as a as by now by now she's already looked at upon as a political victim from [15:50] the issues offered that things has happened to her dad and um up to now that's that's the way she she [15:58] looks i mean of course now they're trying to uh focus on she's mataray matapang or she's a sangano or [16:05] whatever it is because remember each of the sides both there are two sides of this coin on one side [16:12] the administration would like to portray vice president duterte as a no good good for nothing [16:20] ugly i mean you know this just a dirty bad um disgusting person i mean that is the goal [16:27] and maybe they are succeeding in their whatever strategies whatever their um procedures are maybe [16:35] this this this is what they can claim that they are successfully oh yeah we're able to you know [16:40] put her in this light and and earth the dirty linen the skeletons on the so-called closet because [16:46] you're putting it all you know for the public to see and and could basically hurt her popularity [16:51] ratings in the run-up to may 2028 well that's a goal right so on the other hand the defense will now [16:59] uh project what maybe what documents she has what the commission on audit has uh found whatever etc and [17:08] that's their side right now the public is now given um these um what they call these uh matters to [17:20] not think about what the essentials really are i mentioned earlier the um us israel versus versus iran war [17:30] i think the impact of that not just on us but on the world will be far long more long lasting than [17:39] the impact of the pandemic and now we hear that statistics for covid are up in quezon city at least [17:46] and in many other places in hong kong i think that covid statistics are up are we headed for another [17:52] pandemic or something close to that in the midst of all of this you know our oil supply i mean of course [17:59] it's easy to paint a picture you know the oil companies are bad guys but that's not the point [18:04] the point is it's not just oil it's not just it's not just fuel you know what what happens to our [18:10] fertilizer supply or food our food security what what happens to it people are making oodles and [18:15] oodles of money on on on food you know uh senator nikki going back to the impeachment trial if you were a [18:23] senator in this uh in this 19th congress it's a 19th congress or in this congress would you have sided [18:33] with the uh senator win camp the majority camp now or with the minority camp which is led by [18:41] senator alan peter cayetano on whose camp would you be given your way of thinking and your support [18:51] for either the impeachment trial or not for the impeachment trial well to begin with i was never [18:58] in favor of an impeachment trial at this point in our history so i would think that um this is an [19:10] not an exercise in futility but it's an exercise in misleading it's an exercise in um i cannot just find [19:20] right away the the vocabulary to express it but for me allow the entire um term to go through until [19:31] 2028 it's not to say that marcos is doing the right thing no mistakes and all he's the president [19:38] sarah duterte mistakes and all she's the vice president and they were voted for by a majority [19:43] that's why they won right okay now there are many things that we do not like many laws can be changed [19:51] can be amended to address whatever is there you know many charges could be filed many many other uh [20:00] what do you call um solutions to existing problems could be filed so that should have been the way but [20:10] they would rather weaponize the whole thing they would rather the administration of course has the upper [20:15] hand i don't know what the inside uh uh dealings are what the what horse trading is all about but [20:23] of course the administration will have the upper hand but for the people i think the least the [20:31] least of their concern is the impeachment and i will go by that so this administration in a six-year [20:37] term take its course take its course and at the moment i want food on my table yeah you want food on [20:43] your table but at this point the vice president has already said that she'll be running for president [20:49] in two years time so so so what so what you and i can do the same thing that's right uh senator nikki [20:54] so what if and she's leaving basically in all surveys but the elections are not tomorrow i know if she were [21:01] president in 2028 what kind of chief uh executive do you think would she be will she be one who is for the [21:10] people or will she be one who will be vindictive and take revenge against this marcos administration oh i cannot [21:18] second guess her i mean but from what you see and from what you know about her i think that the next [21:26] president regardless of who it's going to be i don't want to say it's going to be sarah or it's going to [21:30] be whoever else it could be you or me i mean you know what i mean it's it's it's an it's an open slate [21:35] as of now i would like to think that the next president will not be able to carry further load to further [21:44] bring us down to infinity you know down the drain to the abyss yeah you know i think for her or his own [21:54] survival he or she should be able to read exactly what the people need maybe they could she can undo [22:03] what has been done monies that have been removed from the public coffers there's a way to put it back [22:11] i mean how many how many um members of the house or of the senate or of the um of the uh executive [22:19] department you know have been named i mean just go through the list of saldico so many of the people [22:26] in this list have actually resigned you know so these lists are not uh fairy tales these lists have have [22:34] some meat in them and can be a good basis for you to start looking into these lists right so [22:42] there is a way to get money back the people are not after blood our citizens are not after somebody [22:50] has to be in firing squad or be shot or assassinated no that's not that's not our goal the goal is [22:56] accountability and you know you have five ferraris send it back you have three uh bentley's three [23:03] rolls royces send it back and that money is very easily accountable you how many houses you have 10 [23:09] houses in where 20 houses where you that that is very easy to count if you start doing that the [23:17] people are going to have maybe more gratitude more appreciation than the money that we are spending [23:24] on an impeachment seriously senator nikiko setting i feel your passion i feel your love for the filipino [23:34] people and for our countrymen that's the only one why are you not back in the senate will you want to [23:41] run again in 2028 the people need your service you want an honest answer or a few honest answers okay one [23:53] to run in the senate today is not anymore like what i did in my time two times that i won in the senate [24:03] six million pesos for campaign funds i had a political party the npc under danding o juanco [24:14] that helped us go around town and helped us you go to every single barangay every city you know there [24:23] was no social media etc today they're talking about one billion and a half two billion and a half somebody [24:30] runs for congress 200 500 million just to be a congressman and you want me to run i i i don't have [24:38] one point zero zero zero zero zero one of that and if that's the if that if our people need to see [24:47] a billion pesos to put a senator in the senate it's not the place for me i'd rather be in your show [24:54] it's free of charge i can i can reach as many people and hopefully make people realize that [25:02] it's not easy to see our problem we can see our solution if we can see our solution [25:06] if we can see our solution we can just choose one side or the other [25:12] that's the only problem that's there staring at you in the face how can you not see it [25:17] we feel your passion we see your love for the filipino people and the country we would like to thank you [25:26] senator nikiko sitting thank you for joining us thank you for inviting me thank you to our audience [25:32] out there because if not for you i wouldn't even be here you're you invited me because i was in the [25:39] senate for two terms and in the house of representatives for five years so if not for our people i wouldn't [25:46] even be here so that's the kind of gratitude that's the kind of of thanksgiving it's not how many cars [25:53] that's not the point i have one car a lot of lessons to be learned from the former senator thank [25:59] you so much for thank you too and thank you to everyone out there as the gavel falls history will [26:05] judge if the senate truly stood as the bastion of democracy i'm rico hizon join us again next time [26:12] on beyond exchange where we uncover insights that happen see you again