Senators-elect weigh in on upcoming role in impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines —  New senators of the 20th Congress attended their photo shoots and orientation yesterday as they weighed in on their soon-to-be roles as senator-judges in the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Outgoing ACT-CIS congressman and senator-elect Erwin Tulfo shared in an interview what he heard from his colleagues in the 19th Congress: the House will refile the Articles of Impeachment during the 20th Congress.

Tulfo questioned the move though because this may violate the constitutional one-year ban on initiating impeachment complaints.

“I think that the House will refile it. That’s what I heard from my colleagues. They’ll refile it with the 20th Congress,” said Tulfo, who did not join the 215 House members who signed the impeachment complaint due to his bid then to run – and later win – as senator.

“Before all this, what they said was, if it is remanded, they will refile it. I don’t know how they will do it. I still don’t understand. I know that there’s a one-year ban. Let us wait and see where we go after that,” Tulfo said.

He also expressed belief the impeachment case can cross over from the 19th Congress to the 20th Congress, amid views that this might lead to questions of jurisdiction.

Former Senate president Tito Sotto felt a tinge of nostalgia as he explained his feeling of being back in the Senate on a historic fifth term.

“Been there, done that. Looking forward to trying to get back to the old feel of the Senate,” Sotto said in a separate ambush interview.

Sotto said he is “always ready” for the impeachment, citing his experience as senator-judge in the 2012 trial of the late chief justice Renato Corona as well as the aborted trial of former president Joseph Estrada.

Returning senator Kiko Pangilinan said there are no talks yet with his fellow senator-elect Bam Aquino and deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros about their plans to form a three-person minority bloc in the Senate.

Pangilinan said he agreed with views that the impeachment case can continue to the 20th Congress because the Senate is a “continuing body.”

“Our job is to try and decide the case. If there is not enough evidence, acquittal. If there is enough evidence, conviction. We have to go through the process before we decide. In the meantime, as senator-elect, I will refrain from making comments until such time I assume office,” Pangilinan said.

Remand allowed

For his part, outgoing majority leader Francis Tolentino yesterday defended the Senate impeachment court’s move to return the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Duterte to the House of Representatives, saying this is allowed under the Rules of Court.

Speaking to ANC yesterday, Tolentino said the court rules give the Senate impeachment court the “inherent power” to return the complaint, so as to allow the House to certify its constitutional compliance with the one-year prohibition on initiating impeachment.

“All should perhaps look into the proper context of how this evolved.  A motion to dismiss was injected. Thereafter, the Senate approved that the word ‘dismiss’ should be changed to ‘remand.’ Thereafter, it was changed to ‘return,’” said Tolentino, a lawyer and administration candidate who lost his reelection bid in the May midterm elections.

“It was just a return to produce the required certificate that the Senate is asking. The Senate is allowed to do that because, after we took our oath, we adopted the same rules of impeachment, Resolution 39, as well as the rules of court in a suppletory manner,” he added.

Tolentino also disagreed with the views of his other colleagues that the impeachment trial can cross over to the 20th Congress.

“I have been studying the Constitution for decades. I’m a constitutional law professor. Likewise, I studied the US Constitution, took up the New York Bar. Even our Constitution, 22,000 words plus, you can’t find words that would mean ‘carry-over,’” Tolentino said.

96 neophytes

The 20th Congress of the House of Representatives will be composed of 317 members with 96 first termers or neophyte congressmen, House secretary general Reginald Velasco said yesterday.

Velasco said the neophyte congressmen are set to attend their executive course in two batches to learn about the legislative process and rules of the House of Representatives.

The first batch will have their executive course on June 23 and 25 while the second batch will have it on July 7 and 9.

Velasco said that with the Commission on Elections (Comelec)’s cancellation of the Duterte Youth party-list which received enough votes for three seats in the House and the recent suspension of proclamation of the winners in the congressional race in Marikina and Benguet, five House seats have yet to be filled.

In another development, the Comelec has also cancelled the certificate of candidacy of Luis Chua Uy who was earlier proclaimed as winner in Manila’s 6th district.

Rep. Benny Abante has filed a petition questioning Uy’s citizenship and the Comelec’s 2nd division ruled in the incumbent’s favor.

“We are waiting for the resolution of the Comelec. It has to be an en banc decision. The en banc should proclaim the actual winner. Once we get this proclamation, we can accept congressman Abante as the duly elected member of Congress in that district,” Velasco said.

Meanwhile, Velasco said that there is no reported security threat yet on the coming fourth State of the Nation Address (SONA) of President Marcos  next month.

Velasco said that the Presidential Security Command conducted yesterday an inspection in the House of Representatives as part of the preparation for the SONA. The PSC was joined by the House Legislative Security Bureau, Philippine National Police and the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority.

Senators lauded

Akbayan party president Rafaela David welcomed yesterday the statements of senator-elect Panfilo Lacson, Senators JV Ejercito, Sherwin Gatchalian and Jinggoy Estrada supporting the Senate’s duty to immediately convene as an impeachment court to try the Vice President.

“We welcome the statements of Senators Lacson, Ejercito, Gatchalian, and Estrada. We hope more senators will follow suit, alongside Senators Risa Hontiveros and Koko Pimentel. Their stand is a timely reminder that duty must transcend partisanship. The Senate is not just a chamber of legislation; it is a tribunal of accountability when the Constitution so demands,” David said.

Akbayan also reiterated that the process must not be dismissed as a mere political distraction or postponed due to congressional transitions. –  Jose Rodel Clapano