Azcuna: Impeach trial must be ‘agad-agad’

MANILA, Philippines — For a former Supreme Court justice who helped draft the Constitution, the use of the word “forthwith” in the impeachment provisions means that the Senate is mandated to conduct the trial agad-agad or “immediately.”

In a statement, retired SC Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna maintained that the articles of impeachment received by the Senate in the 19th Congress will not lapse and should be carried over to the 20th Congress.

“Trial of impeachment cases is not a function of legislative power but it is a constituent power. It is lodged on the Senate specifically not under Article VI on Legislative Power but under Article XI on Accountability of Public Officers,” he said, referring to provisions of the Constitution.

“So it does not fall under the rule that unfinished business lapses with the outgoing Congress because the Constitution says the opposite – that the trial must ‘proceed’ meaning it must continue until it is finished.  It cannot proceed if it is made to lapse. Since it must proceed, it follows that it does not lapse,” he added.

Azcuna, who also signed the statement of the San Beda Graduate School of Law urging the start of the impeachment trial, said he is the one who drafted Article XI of the Constitution, including the procedural section that used the word “forthwith.”

“It is precisely meant to mean immediately and without unreasonable delay or in the national language official version, agad-agad,” he said.

All that Senate President Francis Escudero has to do, said Azcuna, is to start the process before the 19th Congress ends on June 30.

“That will trigger the Senate’s jurisdiction over the case. The Senate in the 20th Congress can continue the process of proceeding with the trial,” Azcuna said.

Dismissing the case without a trial would be a grave violation of the Constitution, he added, since it can be reversed by the Supreme Court or by the Senate of the 20th Congress on a proper motion for reconsideration.

However, only a senator who voted with the majority to dismiss the articles of impeachment can ask for a motion for reconsideration in the 20th Congress, he clarified.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Bar Association (PBA) said the Senate cannot dismiss the impeachment case filed against Duterte without conducting a trial, and cannot also invoke “majority wins” to escape its constitutional duty.

It warned that no branch of government, including the Senate, can evade its duty through self-imposed delays. — Daphne Galvez