Impeach court opens, but raps ‘remanded’ to House
The last-minute attempt by senators belonging to the so-called “Duterte bloc” to summarily dismiss the impeachment case against Sara Duterte failed, but after the senators took their oaths as impeachment court judges on Tuesday night, majority of them voted to approve a motion that will effectively stall the trial.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who was sworn in on Monday night as presiding officer of the court, administered the oath to his 22 other colleagues. The 24th Senate seat was left vacant after Sen. Sonny Angara was appointed education secretary.
Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa moved to junk the impeachment complaint even before the Senate converts itself into a tribunal. Escudero ruled, however, that they would tackle Dela Rosa’s motion only after they had convened as an impeachment court.
“Pursuant to Article XI, Section 3 of the Constitution, the Senate is now constituted and convened as an impeachment court, and the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte is hereby open and called to order,” Escudero said before swearing in his fellow senator-judges.
Instead of setting the first hearing for the presentation of the articles of impeachment as their first act as an impeachment court, the senators voted 18-5 to “return” to the House of Representatives the impeachment complaint backed by 215 of its members.
‘Constitutional infirmities’
The senators approved a motion by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano to remand the impeachment complaint to allow the House to rectify the supposed “constitutional infirmities” of the articles of impeachment that Dela Rosa had raised against it.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III and administration Senators Grace Poe, Nancy Binay and Sherwin Gatchalian opposed the move.
“I strenuously vote ‘no’ to the motion. The wording of the approved motion introduces unnecessary ambiguity to the already politically charged proceedings,” Hontiveros said.
“I cannot accept this kind of wording. It is dangerous and disingenuous, particularly when the rules of court have suppletory application. The same purpose could have been achieved by merely asking the House prosecutors to file a compliance and clarify certain issues,” she said.
In proposing to remand the impeachment complaint, Cayetano said the articles of impeachment will be returned to the House “without dismissing or terminating the case.”
He said the House should issue a certification that it did not violate the constitutional provision that bans the filing of more than one impeachment case against impeachable officials within one year.
“The House of Representatives of the 20th Congress [should] communicate to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the Vice President,” Cayetano said.
The Senate’s decision to remand the impeachment complaint back to the House is unconstitutional as the 1987 Constitution does not give the Senate the power to return a case, only to try and decide, according to University of the Philippines law professor Paolo Tamase.
‘Constitutional structure’
He said the Senate took a step that was not in its own impeachment rules and also violated “constitutional structure.”
“The Senate as an impeachment court has the power to issue orders to the House managers handling the case as prosecutors,” he said. “But the order it will issue is now second-guessing the entire House, effectively interfering in its processes. These are coequal chambers, and the Senate can’t supervise the House.”
Donning their maroon-colored robes, the senators, including those who had openly defended the Vice President, raised their right hands as they “solemnly swear that in all things pertaining to the trial of the impeachment of… Duterte, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and the law of the Philippines.”
Of those who took their oath, Senators Robinhood Padilla, Cynthia Villar and Imee Marcos, all known supporters of the Duterte family, refused to wear their robes, which looked like a cape. “It’s so ugly,” Marcos was heard as saying.
Delivering a privilege speech before the oath-taking, Dela Rosa claimed that the impeachment complaint against the Vice President was replete with “constitutional infirmities” that warranted its immediate dismissal, echoing Duterte’s to the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the complaint and to stop the Senate from trying her.
He said the House committed grave abuse of discretion when it refused to promptly act on the three impeachment complaints earlier filed before it endorsed a fourth impeachment complaint on Feb. 5.
“In other words, intentional inaction of the House of Representatives allowed its members to purportedly circumvent the one-year ban enshrined in Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution,” Dela Rosa said.
Villanueva immediately opposed Dela Rosa’s motion.
Pimentel earlier said that the Senate was not authorized to act on Duterte’s impeachment without transforming itself into an impeachment tribunal.
“Nowhere in the Constitution is the Senate granted the authority to summarily dismiss an impeachment complaint,” Villanueva said.
“Allowing the Senate to dismiss an impeachment complaint without trial would undermine the constitutional mandate of the House, which represents the sovereign will of the people,” he argued.
Villanueva said that the Senate must respect that mandate of the House “and proceed to trial.”
Acting on Villanueva’s objection, Escudero ruled to let the senators take their oath and convene the Senate impeachment court prior to tackling Dela Rosa’s proposal.
Premature to decide
“While recognizing also (Dela Rosa’s) position, the Chair prefers the position of Senator Villanueva that we first convene as an impeachment court before acting on the motion,” Escudero said.
Senator Gatchalian said it would be “premature” for senators to decide on the matter without allowing the House prosecution team to present the evidence against Duterte.
The 19th Congress must be given parliamentary courtesy to act how it must before it bows out on June 30, it’s the Senate of the 20th Congress that must conduct the impeachment trial of the Vice President, according to Senator-elect Paolo Benigno Aquino IV in his first public remarks on the issue.
“It is of utmost importance that we follow the provisions of the 1987 Constitution when it comes to impeachment. It is the duty of the Senate as an institution to try and decide the case, as it would show that our rule of law still prevails,” he said in a statement.
The 19th Congress must be allowed to take its initial steps as an impeachment court. “It is clear that the 20th Congress is the one that must carry out this duty,” affirming legal arguments that the trial can cross over, he said.
Charges vs Sara
Duterte is facing multiple charges: culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, related to her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds from 2022 to 2024, and for allegedly planning the assassination of President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez if an alleged plot to kill her succeeds.
Earlier this week, fellow incoming Senator Francis Pangilinan also supported the view that the Senate was constitutionally mandated to try and decide the case and that it could not dismiss the case without even hearing the charges.
“The Constitution is clear that the Senate must ‘proceed with trial’ and not ‘proceed with dismissal.’ The senator-judges can only decide between acquittal and conviction,” he said. —WITH A REPORT FROM KRIXIA SUBINGSUBING
