Senate resolution pushes Sara’s trial

MANILA, Philippines —  A resolution is being pushed in the Senate asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision blocking the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday pointed to Senators Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino as being behind the resolution circulating in the chamber.

“I respect the views of my colleagues who are pushing for the Senate resolution asking the Supreme Court to effectively reconsider its decision on the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte,” Zubiri said.

“But I firmly maintain my position that we must comply immediately with the Supreme Court’s decision, as it is clearly stated to be ‘immediately executory,’” he added.

Zubiri maintained his position that the Senate should comply with the Supreme Court decision that found the impeachment complaint unconstitutional for violating the one-year bar rule against initiating more than one impeachment complaint.

“While legal opinions are welcome in a democratic setting, we must be careful not to overstep boundaries already settled by the Court,” Zubiri said.

“We do not serve the public well by insisting on reopening matters already resolved by the Constitution’s final arbiter. That sends the wrong signal to the people and weakens the institutions we are sworn to protect,” he added.

Zubiri said the Senate should not risk a constitutional crisis and set a dangerous precedent by defying the Supreme Court through mere resolution.

“Let’s not set a precedent that any group, Senado man yan o ibang organisasyon (whether it be the Senate or another organization), can undermine the Supreme Court through mere resolutions. The answer to a constitutional ruling is not political maneuvering. It is obedience,” Zubiri pointed out.

“I began my public service as a member of the minority in the House in 1998, and now I return in my last remaining three years as part of the  Senate minority. But even as we perform our role to question and challenge, we must also know when to yield to the rule of law. That balance is what keeps democracy alive,” he added.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros earlier said that her camp, along with Pangilinan and Aquino, would circulate such resolution hoping that their colleagues would support their cause.

The senators – widely acknowledged as aligned with the “Pink” camp of former vice president Leni Robredo – disagreed with the Supreme Court decision, as they urged the high court to uphold the “fairness principle” and “doctrine of operative fact” and allow a trial to proceed under the previous definition also set by the SC of the one-year bar rule.

Precedent

Retired Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio and 1987 Constitution framer Christian Monsod are also urging the SC to reconsider its decision which if not withdrawn will set a precedent and “make it impossible to file an impeachment complaint.”

With the ruling, Carpio said the House of Representatives, at the plenary level, is now required to give a copy of the draft of the articles of impeachment to the official being impeached. There should also be a hearing before such articles are filed.

As a result, Carpio said there would not be enough time for the whole process to be done considering that the impeachment complaint should be referred to the committee on justice within three session days from the time it’s included in the Order of Business.

The whole process will likewise be replicated once the House votes to refer it to the committee on justice.

“I think that’s not the purpose. In the constitutional deliberations of the con-com, they said the purpose of this procedure that they laid out is to relax the requirements to make it easy to file these complaints,” he said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.

Carpio said the rule should not apply to the fourth impeachment complaint since the House endorsed it to the Senate for trial while the first three complaints filed before it had been archived.

“So, obviously the one-year-bar rule cannot apply to the fourth complaint, the fourth complaint was filed on time. So it’s a very basic error there and I think it deserves to be reconsidered by the Supreme Court,” Carpio said. - Janvic Mateo, Daphne Galvez, Ghio Ong, Bella Cariaso