House to Senate: Impeachment rap’s return has no legal basis

The Senate as an impeachment court (Photo by NIÑO JESUS ORBETA)

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives’ prosecution team finds no legal basis in the Senate impeachment court’s move to remand the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, saying that the complaint against her did not violate the Constitution.

The panel’s position is contained in its formal “submission” to the impeachment court on Wednesday. House Records Management Service Director Billy Uy submitted the two pleadings before the Clerk of Court past noon.

“This submission is without waiver of the Prosecution’s position that there is no legal basis for the return of the Articles of Impeachment forwarded to the Senate in accordance with the 1987 Constitution,” the document reads. A copy of it was released by the House to the media on the same day.

Earlier, the House formally deferred the acceptance of the Articles of Impeachment returned by the Senate, through House Resolution No. 2346, which was adopted by the House during its plenary session on June 11.

The House submitted to the Senate a copy of this resolution, certifying that the impeachment proceedings initiated by the House last February 5 adhered to provisions of the charter.

Before this, 18 senator-judges voted in favor of the motion introduced by Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano, which moved for the return of the Articles of Impeachment to the House.

They said this was meant to ensure that constitutional safeguards and issues on jurisdiction were not violated.

Cayetano’s motion sought the remanding of the Articles of Impeachment to the House, without dismissing or terminating the case, until such time that the following actions are done:

• The House certifies the non-violation of Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which provides: “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year,” including the circumstances on the filing of the first three impeachment complaints.
• The House of Representatives of the 20th Congress communicates to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the vice president.

The decision to remand the documents stemmed from a motion made by Senator-Judge Ronald dela Rosa to dismiss the complaints against Duterte. The motion was amended by Cayetano.

Meanwhile, five members of the 23-person impeachment court opposed the motion.

Aside from the House prosecution panel’s “submission,” it also resubmitted its entry of appearance with motion to issue summons before the Senate.

Also on Wednesday, copies of both documents were received by the Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar law firm, which represents Duterte.

The vice president earlier sought the dismissal of the impeachment complaint filed against her, calling it “void ab initio” or invalid from the outset.

Duterte’s camp raised this argument in a 35-page document sent to the impeachment court on Monday.

“The fourth impeachment complaint must be dismissed because: it is void ab initio for violating the one-year ban rule under Section 3 (5) Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, which explicitly prohibits the initiation of more than one (impeachment),” the document states. /apl /das/cb