Ex-PCGG lawyer says SC gave VP Sara ‘special treatment’

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Former PCGG lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr. says the Supreme Court should have first decided on his petition requesting to nudge the Senate for VP Sara Duterte's impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court is accused of giving Vice President Sara Duterte preferential treatment after her petition to block her impeachment trial was resolved ahead of another filed days earlier.

Lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr. said the High Court violated both the 1987 Constitution and its own internal rules when it granted Duterte’s petition to block the trial — which she filed on February 18 — ahead of his February 14 petition asking the SC to direct the Senate to “immediately” start Duterte’s trial.

Generillo said the Supreme Court should have decided on his petition weeks ago on May 20 after the Senate filed its comment on May 19 through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). Meanwhile, Duterte’s petition only became ripe for a decision on July 17 after the House of Representatives submitted its Compliance with the Supreme Court.

“[The] SC therefore has the constitutional duty to render its decision on my petition first. The same duty is imposed by the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court,” the former special counsel for the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) said on Saturday, July 26.

Generillo also said the justices gave “special treatment to the Duterte petition,” and therefore violated the Constitution.

The High Court barred impeachment proceedings against the vice president, issuing its decision on July 25.

The Court said the impeachment complaints were unconstitutional because they were filed and acted upon despite a one-year ban against the filing of a new complaint.

However, Generillo pointed out that the Senate was ready to proceed with the impeachment trial once session resumes and after the Articles of Impeachment were read on June 2.

The impeachment court would have convened on June 3 and have the senator-judges take their oath. The actual trial would have started on July 30.

The OSG asked the Supreme Court to junk Generillo’s petition asking the Senate to convene for the trial as “there is [nothing] left for the Honorable Court to compel the Senate to do.” – Rappler.com