Prosecutors to block quash bid

The prosecution in the impeachment trial of President Estrada is scheduled to file today its opposition to the motion of defense lawyers asking the Senate to throw out the case.

House Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), prosecution manager, said yesterday the President’s lawyers cannot question the procedure the House followed in transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate last Nov. 13.

He said the defense also cannot question the impeachment complaint as it was signed by more than the minimum one-third of all House members prescribed under the Charter.

"I don’t want to be mischievous about this, but it could be a dilatory tactic," Belmonte added.

Makati Rep. Joker Arroyo, a member of the prosecution team, said it is debatable whether the Senate, as an impeachment court, can entertain a motion to dismiss the charge the House has leveled against the President.

"If the Senate entertains the motion, it will be trying the House, not the President," he said.

He said the smaller chamber cannot review the work of the larger chamber, which has exclusive jurisdiction over complaints against impeachment officials, he said.

What the Senate should do is just focus on its work as mandated by the Constitution – which is to "proceed with the President’s trial forthwith," Arroyo stressed.

He added that as of yesterday afternoon, the prosecution was still discussing its opposition to the motion to quash the impeachment complaint.

Former Speaker Manuel Villar Jr., in a process that took only about seven minutes on Nov. 13, made history by speedily transmitting the impeachment complaint to the Senate.

He said when a complaint is endorsed by at least one-third of all House members, transmittal on his part is only ministerial and the case does not have to go through plenary debates and approval.

Another prosecutor, Rep. Raul Gonzalez of Iloilo City, said Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. erred in proclaiming that if senators grant the motion to quash, "that will be the end of the impeachment case."

"If Senate President Pimentel asserts that if the motion to dismiss gets the nod of the Senate it means the acquittal of the President, he is totally wrong," he said.

He cited Section 5 of Rule 117 of the Rules in Criminal Procedure which provides that "if the motion to quash is sustained by the court, the court may order that another information be filed," while Section 6 clearly states that "an order sustaining the motion to quash is not a bar to another prosecution for the same offense."

However, Gonzalez said if the motion is granted, the Senate would return the articles of impeachment to the House.

Since the larger chamber is now controlled by pro-Estrada congressmen, "only God knows how long will it take for the House to endorse the impeachment articles back to the Senate, notwithstanding the fact that more than one-third of the members have signed verified endorsement," he said.

"If delay is what the objective is, they will probably achieve it, but I warn that the streets may well explode," the Iloilo congressman added.