Congressman hopeful of support for impeachment drive vs SC justices
Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali. FILE PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines – Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali expects to get the backing of his colleagues in a move to impeach Supreme Court justices for their flip-flopping rulings on the congressional pork barrel and the disqualification of a colleague that he said threatened the independence of Congress.
Umali said the opposition of Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to the impeachment case and the ruling Liberal Party’s distancing itself from the move were not deterrents to his plan.
His impeachment move was prompted by two decisions of the high court upholding the Commission on Elections’ disqualification of Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes and declaring Congress’ pork barrel unconstitutional.
Umali said the Reyes decision was inconsistent with previous rulings that the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), not the Comelec, had jurisdiction over cases against proclaimed election winners, while the pork barrel ruling represented a flip-flop from previous decisions upholding the lump sum fund.
Umali said there was a good chance he could convince enough colleagues to back him up even if the Speaker and the Liberal Party were not joining the impeachment drive.
“That was how it was in the (Chief Justice Renato) Corona impeachment, in the (Ombudsman Merceditas) Mercy Gutierrez case. It did not start with a party position, it started with a small group including myself, which explained our way toward impeachment,” he said in a telephone interview.
“When we sit down to discuss all of these [latest impeachment complaints], we will see,” he added.
Umali said he was trying to protect Congress as an institution because a coequal branch was muzzling its powers.
He said it had always been his position that the Supreme Court could not even review decisions of the HRET, since the Constitution makes the HRET the sole judge of all contests relating to the election, returns and qualifications of House members.
He said at least 169 members have signed his resolution asserting the HRET jurisdiction, and he believes there was a good chance they would also support an impeachment complaint pushing the same stance.
Umali said he would be working on the draft of his impeachment complaint until January 20, when Congress resumes session.
He said he wanted to ensure that it would have both form and substance to ensure that the lapses in the Corona impeachment articles would not be repeated.
Umali is hoping to get the support of one third of the House, or 97 members, to fast-track the complaint.
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