EDITORIAL — Some judicial restraint

With fuel prices in the country staying in the stratosphere despite the ceasefire in the Middle East, at least there was a positive development in another serious problem – the accountability of those in high office.

Last year, the Supreme Court poked its nose into legislative powers and crafted its own self-serving rules on impeachment, when the House of Representatives tried to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.

This time, as Duterte once again turned to the Supreme Court for relief in the revived effort of the House to impeach her, the SC did not issue the temporary restraining order or TRO that she sought with urgency.

Instead, the SC announced on April 8 that it had consolidated all the petitions challenging the House impeachment proceedings, and ordered the respondents to comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice.

The respondents are led by the House committee on justice, whose chair announced that in the absence of the TRO, the panel would proceed with the impeachment hearing on April 14, with or without the personal attendance of the Vice President.

Justice committee members have stressed that Duterte’s refusal to participate in the hearings would be tantamount to a waiver of her right to defend herself, and would effectively speed up the proceedings.

Last year, House members were dismayed when the SC declared the first impeachment case unconstitutional, although the ruling did not touch on the merits of the complaints. Among the premises of this ruling was a non-existent news report that was cited by the author or ponente, SC Associate Justice Marvic Leonen.

This erroneous premise was not corrected by the SC when it unanimously upheld its ruling in January this year. The ruling not only gave Duterte a reprieve from possible removal through an impeachment trial, but also made it tortuous to use the process to remove impeachable officials including SC justices.

Members of the House in the 20th Congress, however, were undeterred. When the complaints were refiled and new ones tossed in, the congressmen revived the effort to hold the Vice President accountable.

This time, at least, the SC seems to have found a sense of judicial restraint, in not acting on Duterte’s urgent petition for a TRO.

The SC, of course, might again hand the final victory in this case to the Vice President, whose father Rodrigo Duterte – as critics have noted – appointed 12 of the current 15 justices to the high tribunal. But for now, the House justice committee can proceed with its work.