On Tuesday, February 18, the Supreme Court (SC) may tackle a petition urging the SC to order the Senate to start Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial even as Congress is adjourned.
SC spokesperson Camille Ting said on Monday that the petition “will possibly be included in [Tuesday’s] agenda,” Inquirer reports.
Lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr., a former special counsel of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG), filed the petition on Friday, February 14. He asked the SC to issue a “writ of mandamus directing the members of the Senate to immediately constitute themselves into an impeachment court and forthwith conduct public trial of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte without further delay.”
Conflicting Rules
Since Duterte’s impeachment by the House of Representatives on February 5, impeachment proceedings on the Senate’s part have been contested. In a briefing on February 6, Senate President Francis Escudero said that the upper chamber could only act on the complaint against the vice president on June 2, when Congress convenes after the midterm elections. This was the case for the trials of former President Joseph Estrada in 2001 and former Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012, according to the University of the Philippines College of Law’s impeachment primer.
However, the primer also says that because the fourth complaint against Duterte received more than the required one-third of signatures to fast-track her impeachment at the House level, the Senate “can and should hold trial immediately and even when Congress is not in session.”
Article XI, Section 3(4) of the 1987 Constitution says, “In case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.” “Forthwith,” as used in the Constitution, means “without delay,” according to the primer.
It also points out that Congress sessions are legislative in character and that non-legislative work should continue even during adjournment. Former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares similarly touched on this in a press briefing on February 5, stating that while an impeachment court consists of members of the Senate, it is not a legislative body and is therefore exempt from the adjournment.
