Sotto, Drilon say Congress has to fulfill its mandate
BY RAYMOND AFRICA and ASHZEL HACHERO
SENATE President Vicente Sotto III and Senate minority leader Franklin Drilon yesterday said the Supreme Court cannot stop Congress from performing its constitutional duty of canvassing the votes for president and vice president and proclaiming the winners, or there will be a constitutional crisis.
They made the remark after a group of civil activists asked the Supreme Court to cancel the certificate of candidacy of presumptive president Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and stop Congress from canvassing votes in the May 9 elections and from proclaiming the winners.
Sotto said: “If that happens, we will be courting a constitutional crisis from the fact that Congress can no longer meet after June 3rd. Who will then conduct the canvass as mandated by the Constitution? July 25 is a key date for Congress. So, no President or VP by June 30? What do they propose? Holdover? Tell me if that is not a crisis!” Sotto said in a message to the media.
Drilon said Congress is just doing its constitutional duty of canvassing votes and there is nothing that the Supreme Court can do to stop it.
“The petitions will not prosper. The Supreme Court cannot restrain or stop Congress, acting as the National Board of Canvassers, from performing its constitutional duty of canvassing the votes for the President and Vice President of the Republic, and proclaiming the winner,” said Drilon, a former justice secretary.
One of the petitions was filed on Tuesday. A similar petition was filed the following day.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court acted on the first petition by issuing a resolution ordering the respondents to answer within 15 days. The court did not issue the temporary restraining order sought by the petitioners.
Sotto, reacting to the SC’s order, said: “Congress has a constitutional duty to act as a national canvassing board. We also have a constitutional timeline to follow into the next
Congress. The Constitution cannot be amended by a TRO!”
Named respondents were the Senate, the House, the Commission on Elections (Comelec), and Marcos.
The SC issued the resolution even if the justices are on recess and were not scheduled to meet en banc until June 14.
The resolution required the respondents “to comment on the petition and prayer for a temporary restraining order within a period of 15 days from notice hereof.”
Sought for comment, lawyer Theodore Te, counsel for the petitioners, said they welcome the move but hopes that the period to comment is inextendible, “considering that time is of the essence.”
“The petition is one of first impression and of grave public interest and we hope that the Court will be given the opportunity to rule substantively on the issues raised,” Te said.
SESSIONS
Congress will resume regular sessions on May 23 and both the Senate and House of Representatives will convene as the National Board of Canvassers (NBOC) the following day. It will go on sine die adjournment on June 3.
Sotto said it is possible the winners can be proclaimed on May 26 if they do a non-stop canvassing of votes.
He said the tradition is that the winners are proclaimed immediately after the canvass is finished. He recalled the 2004 elections when Gloria Arroyo was proclaimed winner in the wee hours of the night.
“I remember June 6, 2004. Gloria was proclaimed just before dawn. I will never forget because I voted against, then walked out,” he added.
Sotto earlier said he will not inhibit when the Senate and House convenes as the NBOC national Board of Canvassers as his role in the canvassing of vote is only “ministerial.” Sotto ran for vice president in the elections.
He said the only time he will inhibit is when his candidacy affects the canvassing.
The Senate has received 88.44 percent or 153 of the 173 ballot boxes containing the certificates of canvass (COCs) for the presidential and vice presidential races, as of yesterday morning.
The latest to be sent to the Senate were COCs and election returns from Sulu, the US and Australia.
The Senate is expected to transfer the COCs and ERs to the House at dawn of May 23, and both houses of Congress will later convene in a joint session to canvass the votes for the 2022 presidential and vice presidential elections.
MANDATE
Marcos lawyer Estelito Mendoza opposed the TRO and stop-canvass petition filed by Fr. Christian Buenafe, Fides Lim, Ma. Edeliza Hernandez, Celia Lagman Sevilla, Roland Vibal, and Josephine Lascano on May 17.
Mendoza, who served as solicitor general under the administration of Marcos’ father, cited Section 4, Article VII of the Constitution as he argued that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to stop the canvassing and proclamation of the winners by Congress.
He also said the Constitution states that the presidential and vice presidential terms starts at noon of June 30, and will end on June 30, 12 noon, six years later.
“All of the above provisions, in language and intent, are mandatory and the Supreme Court is without jurisdiction to prevent their implementation,” Mendoza said.
The petitioners assailed the Comelec’s January 17 and May 10 resolutions dismissing for lack of merit their plea seeking the denial or cancellation of the COC of Marcos and their motion for reconsideration. They also asked the SC to issue a TRO to “enjoin and restrain” both houses of Congress from canvassing the votes of Marcos and proclaiming him as president.
On Wednesday, martial law survivors led by Satur Ocampo and Bonifacio Ilagan also asked the SC to overturn the Comelec decision junking their disqualification case against Marcos.
The SC has yet to act on their plea.
The Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting, a day before it winds down operations of its command center at the University of Sto. Tomas, said it has received 85,859 ERs as of 10:30 a.m. yesterday, or 79.66 percent of the total of 107,785.
PPCRV said 46,728 ERs came from North and South Luzon, 16,080 from the Visayas, 12,981 from Mindanao, and 10,070 from the National Capital Region.
The poll watchdog has yet to receive ERs from overseas voting.
