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Despite the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as unconstitutional, some senators believe that the Senate can still continue with the impeachment trial.
Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero sitting as presiding officer of the impeachment court. (Mark Balmores/Manila Bulletin)
Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III pointed out that the Senate has the power to do so because as a co-equal branch of government, the Judiciary cannot encroach on the functions of the Legislative branch.
“Being a member of the impeachment court, I would rather hear what the House of Representatives has to say,” Sotto said.
“I was told by a legal luminary that in this situation, we can disregard the SC decision because it tramples over the work of the Senate, which is separate from theirs,” the former Senate leader said.
“We are a separate body. That’s an advice that I will study before making further comments,” Sotto said.
Sen. Paolo “Bam” Aquino IV also expressed the same sentiment: “I firmly believe that the impeachment trial should continue.”
“As a co-equal branch, the constitutional mandate and power of the Senate are clear, so the impeachment process should be respected,” Aquino said.
“I call on my fellow Senators to immediately hold a caucus to discuss the decision that disregards our Constitutional duty,” he added.
Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan also said that while he finds it difficult to comment on the matter with certainty, he noted that the SC seems to have forgotten that the Senate is a co-equal branch.
“It is difficult to comment with certainty because I have not read the ruling yet but offhand it seems that the SC has set aside the legal principle of the presumption of regularity of the acts of a co equal,” Pangilinan pointed out.
“The Supreme Court has now spoken and it must be respected. We can only wonder if the SC's decision would still be like this if the Senate had followed the mandate of the Constitution to 'to forthwith proceed with trial' since there was no restraining order issued by the SC when the petition was filed in February?” he asked.
Sen. Joel Villanueva also said he believes that the impeachment court will proceed with the trial “whether the SC made that decision or not.”
“Whether the Supreme Court made that decision or not, the impeachment court will proceed. We'll proceed. And I'm sure someone will raise it during the impeachment proceedings. For sure, someone will raise it,” Villanueva said.
“But we are sui generis ang impeachment court. So we will proceed. So these are all questions that will be raised with the decision of the Supreme Court. Will the impeachment court submit to the decision of the Supreme Court? Nangyari na yan nung time ng impeachment ni (It already happened during the time of) former Chief Justice Corona. The same thing,” he noted.
Villanueva said the Senate will have to vote on the matter on whether or not the impeachment court will submit to the decision of the SC.
“So it's still the impeachment court's decision,” he said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, meanwhile, said she is dismayed over the SC decision, which she said could raise short-term and long-term consequences.
“One of the things we wonder is how the “one year bar rule” was violated now that only one case has been brought to the Senate, according to the Supreme Court’s own decision in Gutierrez vs. House of Representatives (G.R. No. 193459),” she pointed out.
“As the Supreme Court explained in that decision, the clear consideration behind the one year bar rule "refers to the element of time, and not the number of complaints." Sabi nga ng Korte Suprema (As the SC said): " The measure of protection afforded by the Constitution is that if the impeachable officer is made to undergo such ride, he or she should be made to traverse it just once,” she pointed out.
Additionally, Hontiveros said it is worrying that the Supreme Court seems to have added too many requirements to begin the impeachment process.
“I can only hope that this new ruling will not adversely affect future efforts to hold our highest public officers accountable.
“The Constitution is clear- public office is a public trust - at walang opisyal ang may karapatan sa posisyon.
“All public officials are responsible to every Filipino, and the constitutional right of the people to hold their highest officials accountable must always prevail. The people have every right to demand answers. We will fight for this,” she said.
