MANILA, Philippines – A former special counsel of the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has asked the Supreme Court to direct the Senate to “immediately” constitute itself into an impeachment court and begin the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr. filed the petition which the Court received on Friday, February 14. The Senate was named as the respondent in the petition.
He asked the Court “for the issuance of 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.”
Senate President Francis Escudero earlier said that the Senate is likely to constitute itself into an impeachment court after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address in July. Escudero earlier said that no impeachment trial will take place during the congressional break, as seven senators will be focused on their reelection campaigns.
Generillo said in his petition: “In the final analysis, the Constitution does not allow the Senate to procrastinate during the period it is on recess whether it shall constitute itself into an impeachment court and try the Vice President. If it were so, the framers of the Constitution wrote a useless provision. Woe to the so-called doctrine of supremacy of the Constitution.”
Basis
In filing the petition, Generillo invoked the High Court’s pronouncement in its 2003 decision on the case of Ernesto B. Francisco Jr. vs. the House of Representatives, that the words used in the Constitution “must be given their ordinary meaning” because it is not a lawyers’ document and as such, the language should be understood by common use.
“An ordinary citizen can easily discern from these constitutional provisions that they fix definite periods of time within which specific acts should be done in dealing with an impeachment complaint,” the Generillo said.
He said there should be no controversy in the meaning of the relevant provision in Section 3 (4) of the Constitution, which states: “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.”
Generillo pointed out that the dictionary meaning of “forthwith” was sustained by the Royal Courts of Justice, London in a decision rendered on April 27, 2020, as something to be taken “at least, with some urgency,” and by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2005 as “immediately” or “without delay.”
“In the instant case, the honorable members of the Senate individually or collectively, are not suffering from any kind of disability, physical or mental, that prevents them from constituting themselves into an impeachment court and forthwith conduct trial to determine whether the Vice President is guilty or not,” he said in his petition.
Generillo also said cited the constitutional basis for filing a petition for mandamus — the 2013 ruling of the Supreme Court in the case of Ampatuan Jr. vs De Lima that “Mandamus shall issue when any tribunal, corporation, board, officer, or person unlawfully neglects the performance of any act that the law specifically enjoins as a duty resulting from an office, trust, or station.”
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, nearly two months since three impeachment complaints were filed her Duterte at the lower chamber, and nearly five months since the House formalized its inquiry into her alleged misuse of public funds as the country’s second-in-command, and Department of Education secretary.
The articles of impeachment were transmitted to the Senate the same day, February 5. The following day, Escudero argued that an impeachment court can only be convened in a plenary session and not while Congress is on recess.
Congress adjourned session on February 8 and will resume session from June 2 to 13. It will adjourn sine die on June 14 until July 27.
As expected, Vice President’s impeachment has become an election campaign issue. The senatorial candidates of her father, Rodrigo Duterte, are wooing voters with the promise of blocking her impeachment if they are elected while progressive senatorial candidates said they would support it.
Analysts have cited the pros and cons of not holding the impeachment trial under the current Senate, even while on recess. (READ: [The Slingshot] Which is a better impeachment court — the present or next Senate?)
The petitioner
Generillo served as a PCGG special counsel under then-PCGG chairperson Haydee Yorac. He was tasked with one of the government’s most important ill-gotten wealth cases involving the assets of tycoon Lucio Tan.
Generillo was the pro bono counsel of the Philippine Ambassadors Foundation, Incorporated (PAFI) in their 2010 petition before the SC to stop the sale of the Fujimi property in Tokyo, which houses the Philippine ambassador’s official residence. PAFI nominated him for Ombudsman in 2011.
– Rappler.com