Escudero says it can’t be done ’legally’
SENATE President Francis “Chiz” Escudero yesterday said the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will have to wait until Congress resumes regular sessions on June 2 as there are processes which need to be completed before the trial proper.
Escudero, at a Senate forum, said the impeachment complaint was not formally referred to the plenary which will be the basis for the Senate to convene an impeachment court.
“Legally, it cannot be done,” he said.
“For the impeachment court to convene, there should be a session. For the impeachment judges to be sworn in, there must be a session. Although the trial can proceed even when Congress is on recess, just like what happened during the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice [Renato] Corona, the impeachment trial should be done, convened, and the judges sworn in while there is a session),” Escudero said in Filipino.
The Articles of Impeachment were transmitted to the Senate by the House on Wednesday after the impeachment complaint against Duterte gathered 215 signatures, way more than that 102 required by the Constitution.
Congress adjourned its regular sessions on Wednesday night, to give way to the preparations for the midterm elections on May 12. Sessions will resume on June 2 and will last only until June 13, which gives the Senate only six session days before the 19th Congress officially ends on June 14.
“So, if there is anything that will happen to this impeachment complaint, that will happen on June 2 when the Senate resumes regular sessions. And it is up to the members of the Senate if they want to amend the rules, what will be included in the rules, if we can have hearings during the break, because there are still 12 senators who will be serving until 2028, including me, and 12 senators have their terms expiring [by June,” Escudero said.
The House of Representatives’ prosecution panel said the impeachment proceedings should begin as soon as possible as mandated by Section 3 (4) of Article XI (Accountability of Public Officers) of the Constitution, which provides: “In case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by one-third of all the members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”
“Since the Constitution provides that trial shall ‘proceed forthwith,’ if we interpret ‘forthwith (immediately, right away),’ dapat po sana as soon as possible ‘yun (That should be done as soon as possible),” Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, a member of the 11-man prosecution team, told a press conference.
Defensor, however, quickly added that the House respects the Senate’s decision on the timeline of the trial, saying everything will depend on the rules governing the impeachment proceedings the will be adopted by senators.
“We will leave that to the interpretation of the Senate,” he said.
PROCESSES
Escudero said the Articles of Impeachment was not tackled in the plenary because it was not included in the agenda for the day. He said no senator asked about the impeachment because the Senate has not been “officially informed.” He added the complaint will still have to undergo processes based on rules, practices, and procedures of the impeachment complaints,
He said Senate secretary Renato Bantug should first formally inform the chamber that he has received the Articles of Impeachment, only after he has verified the signatures on the impeachment complaint since the rules state that only “wet signatures,” not e-signatures, should have been affixed in the documents.
He said the secretariat will also have to draft the rules and show it to senators who will provide their insights. He said the rules will have to be approved in the plenary on June 2.
Based on impeachment rules, Escudero said, the Senate President shall take proper order of the subject of the impeachment, which means that the Senate President should first prepare the upper chamber for the conduct of the trial proper.
He said the Senate is not compelled to “immediately proceed” with the impeachment trial as according to the 1987 Constitution “the Senate shall forthwith proceed with trial.”
In the case of the impeachment complaint against former Ombudsman Mercedita Gutierrez in 2011, he said it was transmitted to the Senate on March 23 but the upper chamber did nothing since Congress went on recess on March 26. He said the trial proper started on May 19 but did not proceed as she resigned from office.
In the case of the impeachment complaint against former Chief Justice Renato Corona, he said, it was filed Dec. 13, 2011 and trial started on January 19 the following year.
He said the impeachment trial of former President Estrada started on January 2001, two months after the House of Representatives impeached Estrada.
`FORTHWITH’
With these, he said, the Senate cannot be accused of sitting on the complaint.
“If we look at the precedents, ‘forthwith’ does not mean that we have to act the next day or immediately. The House of Representatives studied the impeachment complaint for two months… It was not forwarded by secretary general [Reginald Velasco] to the Speaker’s office so it can be referred to the plenary and Committee on Justice … And why are we asked to act on it in a matter of hours?” he said.
“There should be no reason to compel as to rush especially so that it was transmitted to us on the last session day and it was almost 5 o’clock in the afternoon,” he added.
While the Senate is on break, he said, senators will iron out some matters, including review of impeachment rules, requirements of having judicial affidavits, procedures in the impeachment trial proper, and pre-trial procedures. Whatever will be agreed on during the break will still have to be reported out in the plenary for final approval of the senators.
Asked if they will convene the impeachment court if President Marcos Jr calls for a special session, Escudero said they will abide, but said special sessions are called only when important measures need to be passed.
Defensor said immediately hearing the case against the Vice President is in the interest of justice and due process because “the sooner that the evidence could be laid down, the sooner that due process can be exercised, the sooner the issues pending before us can be resolved.”
CONTINUING TRIAL
Defensor raised the possibility that the trial may spill over to the next Congress, the 20th Congress, if the current Congress will not be able to dispose of the complaint before it adjourns sine die on June 13.
“It is possible and yes we will leave it to the Senate and to the rules of the impeachment court,” he said in Filipino.
If such a scenario happens, it would mean that some members of the prosecution panel and the Senate will no longer be part of the next Congress since some of them may not be re-elected this May while others are already on their third and final terms.
Escudero said the impeachment complaint and the rules on impeachment will be carried over to the next Congress even if the complaints were filed during the 19th Congress, which will officially end on June 13.
“An impeachment complaint, in my opinion, is not like a typical bill that you will have to re-file once the current Congress ends),” he said.
Escudero said one thing is clear in this impeachment trial — it will be the members of the 20th Congress who will decide whether to convict or acquit the Vice President.
Besides, he added, the impeachment court is a “court of records” that needs to continue with the trial until a verdict is reached.
Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (PL, 1-Rider) said the trial could proceed in the next Congress despite the election of new House and Senate members “because the Senate is a continuing body.”
“As we speak, the House leadership is already preparing the impeachment secretariat so we will be prepared. If ever the Senate does indeed interpret that they could proceed with trial as early as March, we will be ready. If they decide that it will continue after June 2, we will be even more ready,” he said.
Veteran election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said the Senate has to complete its impeachment trial by June 13 or before its adjournment since such a case cannot be taken up by the next Senate as a continuing case.
Macalintal said the Senate cannot wait for June to convene the impeachment court. He cited the 2008 case of Garcillano vs House of Representatives on whether the Senate can continue its legislative probe regarding the controversial “Hello Garci”’ tapes wherein the Supreme Court ruled that “unpassed bills and even legislative investigations of the Senate of a particular Congress are considered terminated upon the expiration of that Congress and it is merely optional on the Senate of the succeeding Congress to take up such unfinished matters.”
He said such ruling is in line with the very rules of the Senate-Section 123 of Senate Rule XLIV- which stated that all pending matters and proceedings shall terminate upon the expiration of Congress but may be taken up by the succeeding Congress as if presented for the first time.
“Hence, the present Senate has to immediately convene as an impeachment court if it wants to terminate or finish this impeachment case before June 13. Otherwise, the succeeding Senate can treat it as if filed for the first time because the succeeding Senate, as likewise held by the SC in Garcillano, should not be bound by the acts and deliberations of the Senate of which they had no part,” he said. – With Ashzel Hachero
