Posted by ReyFort Media
THE Supreme Court on Wednesday dismissed three separate petitions challenging the Senate impeachment court’s interpretation of the constitutional requirement for a two-thirds vote to convict in an impeachment case.
The petitions were filed by Victor Rodriguez, Berteni Cataluña Causing and Ernesto Francisco Jr., who separately questioned the Senate tribunal’s Sept. 23 ruling on how the required two-thirds vote should be counted.
The Senate impeachment court had ruled that the phrase “all the members of the Senate” under Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution refers only to senators who are legally and actually able to participate in the impeachment proceedings at the time of the vote.
Rodriguez argued that the Senate tribunal effectively amended the Constitution by adding a qualification not found in the constitutional text. He asked the Supreme Court to nullify the ruling and temporarily restrain its implementation.
Causing, meanwhile, argued that senators who remain in office should still be counted even if they are in hiding, detained or medically unable to attend the proceedings. He also sought orders stopping any final vote on Vice President Sara Duterte’s conviction while his case was pending.
Francisco similarly maintained that because the Constitution provides for a 24-member Senate, conviction requires the concurrence of at least 16 senator-judges. He argued that senators who are detained, on medical leave or temporarily absent remain members of the Senate and should therefore be included in the count.
The Supreme Court, however, dismissed all three petitions on procedural grounds, including lack of standing and prematurity.
A spokesman for the impeachment court said the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the petitions removed a legal challenge that could have disrupted the impeachment trial of Duterte.
In a statement, impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol said the Supreme Court en banc’s dismissal of the separate petitions affirmed the authority of the senator-judges to interpret and apply their rules in carrying out its constitutional mandate.
He said the dismissal also reinforces the independence of the Senate when sitting as an impeachment court and prevents the trial from being stalled by what he characterized as premature judicial challenges.
“By junking these challenges, the Highest Court has drawn a definitive firewall around the independence of the Senate as an impeachment court, confirming that its proceedings cannot be held hostage by premature judicial meddling or collateral litigation,” he said.
Tongol said the tribunal would proceed with its constitutional duty to try and decide the impeachment case “without unnecessary stalling or external distractions.”
The court canceled Wednesday’s scheduled hearing to give the prosecution and defense a “strategic procedural pause” before a series of whole-day sessions. The trial resumes today, Oct. 1, under a calendar that provides for extended proceedings through Oct. 2 and again from Oct. 5 to 9 and Oct. 12 to 15.
The House prosecution panel is ready to resume presenting witnesses and financial records after a one-day procedural pause, prosecutor and Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said on Wednesday.
The Senate impeachment court canceled its Sept. 30 hearing ahead of whole-day hearings beginning Thursday.
Ridon said the pause did not delay the prosecution’s preparations.
( William B. Depasupil , Javier Joe Ismael , Catherine S. Valente and Kristina Maralit?Manila Times)
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