THE spokesperson of the House of Representatives yesterday said the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, should stop blaming the lower chamber for allegedly refusing to accept the defense lawyers’ entry of appearance last Monday, saying it is not the House that is delaying the process.
Princess Abante said the House was just following the correct process in the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
“No one refused it; we just followed the correct process. The House discharged its duty. We’ve submitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate. It’s up to the Senate to take the next step. If there’s a delay, it’s not from the House,” she said in Filipino, reacting to the statement of Reginal Tongol, spokesperson of the Reginald Tongol.
Tongol has said the refusal of the House to accept the entry of appearance of Duterte’s legal team may further delay the impending trial. He said the House should accept the formal entry for a filing to be accepted by the impeachment court. He said the notation “is very significant because the prosecution might say that they were not given a copy.”
Abante, a lawyer and daughter of Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, maintained the House did not refuse to receive the document, contrary to what the Vice President’s legal team made it appear when they wrote “Tender Copy – Refused to Receive” on the document.
Abante said the congressmen only wanted to be clarified since the document that was submitted to the House did not even have a cover letter explaining what it was for.
She said a messenger arrived at the gate of the House of Representatives in Quezon City and tried to submit a document last Monday but it was unclear what the document was for and where it came from. She said there was no cover letter and no formal explanation.
“That’s why it wasn’t immediately received, not because it was refused but to clarify the purpose and ensure the correct process is followed,” she said.
Abante argued that the Vice President’s defense lawyers’ entry of appearance in the Senate impeachment court is not even a requirement for the trial to proceed.
“There was no bad intention. There was also no rejection… If this was an entry of appearance, they should have said right away for it to be processed immediately,” she said.
Abante appealed to her impeachment court counterpart “not to confuse the public on the service of entry.”
“Let’s not use a clerical error detail to pass the blame to the House,” she said.
REMAND ORDER
Returning senator Panfilo Lacson said the Senate impeachment court may have overreached its interpretation of the provisions of the 1987 Constitution when it decided to return the Articles of Impeachment to the House.
“The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. Wala po ang salitang ‘remand’ o ‘return’ sa Constitution (The words remand or return are not in the Constitution),” he said.
“All lawyers should know this legal maxim: Expressio unius est exclusion alterius (What the law does not include, it excludes). The word ‘remand’ is not included in Article XI Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution,” he added.
Article XI of the Constitution talks about accountability of public officers.
Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino said the return of the impeachment articles only required the House to issue a certification that it did not violate the one-year ban on accepting impeachment complaints on an impeachable official.
“The Senate is allowed to do that because … after we took our oath, we adopted the same rules of impeachment, Resolution 39, as well as the rules of court in a suppletory manner. So, the rules of court…says something about the inherent powers of the court under Rule 15, Section 5. And one of those powers would be ‘to amend and control its processes and orders to make them conformable to law and justice’,” Tolentino said in interview with ANC’s Headstart.
Incoming senator Erwin Tulfo said the House is reportedly planning to refile the impeachment complaint in the incoming 20th Congress.
“I think that the House will really refile it. That’s what I heard from my colleagues. They’ll refile it in the 20th Congress,” Tulfo said in a chance interview at the Senate where he attended the orientation for new senators.
“That’s what I heard … I don’t know how they will do it, the mechanics,” he also said.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa earlier moved for the outright dismissal of the impeachment complaint due to the alleged constitutional infirmities and question on the jurisdiction of the incoming 20th Congress over the complaints.
After hours of debates among senators, Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano moved to amend Dela Rosa’s motion, and suggested that the impeachment court return the complaint to the House so it can certify that it did not violate the one-year ban on accepting impeachment complaints on an impeachable official.
Eighteen senator-judges voted in favor of the return, while five were against.
Soon after the impeachment court’s decision, the House adopted a resolution certifying that the impeachment complaints against Duterte were in full compliance with the 1987 Constitution.
