1 day ago
6
Upgrade to High-Speed Internet for only ₱1499/month!
Enjoy up to 100 Mbps fiber broadband, perfect for browsing, streaming, and gaming.
Visit Suniway.ph to learn
Lost in the din of the impeachment of VP Sara Duterte is the reason behind the detailed instructions for impeachment laid down in the Constitution.
When the framers wrote the Constitution, they retained the extraordinary protection accorded to a class of semi-untouchable public officials. These are the select few among government functionaries who are protected in order to preserve the independence of their office from political pressure, or by virtue of the political acclaim due to their high office.
To the first category belong the members of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Commissions and the Ombudsman. To the second category belong the President and Vice President. These public officials are so special that the only way to remove them from office, barring the scandalously aberrant ruling in the case of Republic vs. Sereno, is through the tedious process of impeachment.
Constitutional intent
Because impeachment is the only way for these officials to be ultimately accountable, the Constitution provided for detailed provisions on the procedure for their impeachment. Thus, the constitutional details on the procedure of impeachment are deliberate and intentional for this reason. This is also why when the Constitution directs that trial by the Senate shall FORTHWITH proceed after the transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment by the House, it means that trial is not optional, and that the Senate cannot not choose to convene as an impeachment court.
The intent of the Constitution is to make the impeachment trial mandatory upon the Senate once the requisites for the filing of the Articles of Impeachment by the House are met. The intent of the Constitution is to also prevent anyone, especially the Executive or the Supreme Court, from frustrating the impeachment process because precisely, the President, VP, and SC Justices are impeachable officials. If they are allowed to use the powers of their office to frustrate their own impeachment, then all avenues for their accountability are closed because impeachment is the only mode provided by the Constitution for their removal from office.
Stopping the trial
The powers of the Executive and the Supreme Court cannot be used to stop, delay, or in any way frustrate the proceedings for impeachment and trial of the President, the VP, and the members of the Supreme Court. No one can be the judge or final arbiter of his or her own impeachment trial or issues arising from its conduct. This is especially true for the Supreme Court, otherwise its members can easily frustrate the progress of any impeachment against members of the Court.
This is also why the Constitution provided that trial by the Senate shall immediately follow once the House approves the Articles of Impeachment and transmits them to the Senate. It leaves the Senate no choice but to immediately convene as an impeachment court and proceed with the trial, lest the Senate allies of the impeached official or the individual senators, to serve their own political interests, choose to refuse to convene, delay, or stop the impeachment.
No senator, acting for an ally impeached official, or acting upon his or her own personal political interest, can delay or stop the Senate’s convening as an impeachment court, with the objective of saving the impeached official and effectively shielding him or her from accountability. Unfortunately, so far, it appears that this is exactly what we have been witnessing in the Senate the past four months.
No amount of procedural barriers, therefore, should also be allowed to frustrate the immediate start of the impeachment trial, whether raised before the Supreme Court or by individual senators, the latter of whom may or may not be politically aligned with the official subject of the impeachment.
Supreme Court’s role
With regards to the Supreme Court, its participation in deciding issues raised on impeachment should be sparing, if not entirely precluded. As mentioned, the issue of whether or not an impeachment should proceed should not be left to those who may be subjected to impeachment themselves. It is entirely possible for the whole of the Supreme Court to be impeached all at the same time. If they are allowed to decide issues on impeachment, then they can stop their own impeachment. The Constitution prevents this from happening by declaring that the Senate as the impeachment court shall be the sole power and authority to decide cases of impeachment.
The Supreme Court may have the plenary power to decide cases of grave abuse, or the constitutional authority to interpret Article XI of the Constitution. When this plenary power and constitutional authority clash with the exclusive power of the Senate as an impeachment court, and both exert their respective constitutional authority, the same can result in a constitutional crisis.
On this score, the behavior of the Supreme Court in the impeachment of then-chief justice Renato Corona is instructive on how to avert a constitutional crisis. In that instance, the weaker non-political department of government deferred to the political departments on the conduct of a constitutionally prescribed legal, but also inherently political, process. If the Supreme Court then refrained from saving one of their own — their head even — there is less reason why they should behave differently now that the impeached official is a political, not a judicial, official.
If the Supreme Court maintains this hands-off policy it practiced in the Corona impeachment trial, the only discretion of the Senate then for lack of an SC TRO or injunction is to conduct the impeachment trial and render a verdict. It has no discretion on whether or not it should convene as an impeachment court once the Articles of Impeachment have already been transmitted by the House.
The Constitution is not optional
If the Constitution is to be strictly followed, neither the President, the House, the Senate, nor the Supreme Court can stop, delay, or frustrate the immediate conduct of an impeachment trial until a final verdict is arrived at. The impeachment trial is not optional because following the Constitution is not optional.
However, as impeachment issues are being discussed now, especially on whether or not the Senate can opt not to convene as an impeachment court and refuse to proceed with the trial, or whether or not the Supreme Court can order the Senate to refrain from conducting the impeachment trial, it appears that following the mandate and letter of the Constitution on exacting accountability from impeachable officials has become discretionary and optional.
I hope our leaders and public officials realize the destructive force of this collective hedging on the foundations of our republican and democratic government. – Rappler.com
