Tupas says SC ‘overstepped jurisdiction’ in issuing TRO

MANILA, Philippines—Lead prosecutor Iloilo Representative Niel Tupas Jr. accused the Supreme Court of overstepping its jurisdiction when it ordered the impeachment court to stop compelling Philippine Savings Bank from divulging details of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s foreign currency accounts.
“Clearly the Supreme Court overstepped its jurisdiction by issuing a TRO. It is clear in the Constitution that on matters affecting the impeachment trial the Senate has the sole power to try and decide,” he told reporters after Day 15 of the trial.

But as prosecutors, Tupas said that they would submit to the impeachment court’s decision on the matter. “Although I personally think [the high court] has no jurisdiction over this and it seems that it is a grand conspiracy by the Supreme Court to hide the truth.”

Reacting to deputy prosecutor Rodolfo Fariñas’ statement that he would file impeachment complaints against the eight associate justices who voted for the TRO, Tupas said that he still needed to confer with the House Committee on Justice and that “we should meet soon to take position on that.”

“I cannot speak for the House and the committee but clearly, to me, what the justices did constitutes betrayal of public trust.”