Former Bayan Muna rep press the Senate, ‘impeachment court must convene’

By MARTHA TEODORO and ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – The 19th Congress might have ended but the impeachment court can still convene. 

This is the assertion of former Bayan Muna representative and now its chairperson, Neri Colmenares as the Senate adjourned on Wednesday, June 12. He urged the public to protest against the derailing of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte and press the Senate to convene as an impeachment court on June 21. 

In a statement, he said that the Senate has just adjourned as a legislative body and can still convene as an impeachment court. “The impeachment court is not convened as a legislative body but as a constitutionally mandated body to try impeachment cases and not merely to pass laws,” Colmenares said. 

Colmenares explained that the impeachment body is not bound by its legislative calendar. 

He said, “Even Rule X  of the Senate Rules on Impeachment itself recognizes this when it provided that ‘At 2:00 o’clock in the afternoon, or at such other hour as the Senate may order, of the day appointed for the trial of an impeachment, the legislative business of the Senate, if there be any, shall be suspended, and the Secretary of the Senate shall give notice to the House of Representatives that the Senate is ready to proceed upon the impeachment trial of ___________, in the Senate Chamber.’” Colmenares was a public prosecutor during the impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Colmenares added that Rule III of the same Senate Rules commanded that “Upon presentation of the articles to the Senate, the Senate shall specify the date and time for the consideration of such articles. Unless the Senate provides otherwise, it shall continue in session from day to day xxx until final judgment shall be rendered, and so much longer as may, in its judgment, be necessary.”

To recall, the Senate convened as an impeachment court on Tuesday, June 10. On the same day, the senators, 18 of them, voted in favor of sending back the articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives. Only five senators voted against the return of the articles of impeachment to the lower house. 

The impeachment court also issued a writ of summons to Vice President Sara Duterte, and she was directed to file an answer within a non-extendable 10-day period. 

“Since the Vice President was ordered by the impeachment court on June 11 to submit her answer within a non-extendible period of 10 days, the Court should convene on June 21 to receive it and start the trial,” Colmenares said. 

Senator-judges lawyering for Vice President Duterte

Meanwhile, progressive groups criticized the senators who voted for the remanding of the impeachment case. “Why are the senators acting as lawyers for the accused? It should be the accused, through their own lawyers, who raise those concerns — not the judges. That’s why what’s happening here is madness, a mockery,” former Caloocan councilor and activist Ferdinand Gundayao told Bulatlat in an interview. He attended the June 11 indignation protest at the Senate.  

“This is a delaying tactic. There are no legal issues. The Senate has the power to make its own decision, and it has full authority to create its own rules in order to carry out its constitutional mandate to try,” ACT Teachers Partylist Rep. Antonio Tinio also said. 

He added that not even the Supreme Court can tell the Senate what rules to follow.  “So, really, everything is in the hands of the Senate and the Congress in terms of impeachment.”

‘People have the power’

Gundayao said they will continue to monitor the impeachment case and that they are ready to protest irregularities in the process. “As we often say, our biggest strength that we have seen in Philippine history is the strength of the people,” he said referring to the ouster of former president Joseph Estrada and the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. 

Colmenares meanwhile stressed that “the people have all the right to find out how P612 million of the people’s money was spent by Duterte and whether the alleged recipient of the money, like Mary Grace Piattos, actually exists. They [senate] must press VP Duterte to answer the complaint.”He also urged Filipinos to protest the travesty. “The people, not just in Metro Manila but in provinces all over the country, must hold protest actions to also urge the Senate to convene on June 21 so that this huge amount of public funds, which could have been used for free medicine, education, food, and other social services to the people, went,” he concluded. With reports from Aizel Mae Tugalon (RVO)

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