Lawmaker to pursue SC impeachment

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Even if he has to do it alone, Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali said he would file an impeachment complaint against several justices for supposedly betraying the public’s trust through inconsistent rulings that threaten the jurisdiction of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET).

Umali said he may not wait for one-third of his colleagues to support his complaint before filing it as his signature would suffice for the complaint to be heard by the Committee on Justice.

But if he would be able to get the signature of 97 colleagues, the complaint could be fast-tracked and go directly to the Senate for trial, he said.

“Just to douse speculations as to whether it will proceed or not, with or without the 97 signatures, I will pursue it,” Umali told reporters in the weekly breakfast forum at Serye restaurant in Quezon City on Thursday.

“If nobody will join me, it will be a lonely battle, but I will not renege on it,” he added.

He said he was confident of getting more support once the complaint progresses.

Umali said his main reason in the complaint is the Supreme Court ruling upholding the disqualification of Marinduque Rep. Regina Reyes. The decision, once implemented, would seat Reyes’ rival who happens to be the son of a Supreme Court justice.

According to Umali, this decision contradicts earlier rulings that the HRET, not the Comelec, has jurisdiction over cases against proclaimed candidates.

He said he also intends to mention in the complaint the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the Congress’ pork barrel as unconstitutional, but he said it would be mostly an aside, or a “by the way,” to illustrate the tribunal’s flip-flopping decisions. The high court declared the pork barrel constitutional in previous rulings.

Umali is hoping that the 169 lawmakers who signed his resolution asserting the HRET’s jurisdiction would also support his impeachment complaint.

He said this resolution could be the House of Representatives’ ammunition against the Supreme Court ruling on Reyes’ case. Earlier, he said the fact that this many signed the measure showed that the House was willing to stand up to the court’s “bullying.”

He said his move was meant to curb the Supreme Court’s overstepping of its bounds.

“We have the power to balance these abuses through the power of impeachment,” he said.

“It’s either you give in to the bullying of the Supreme Court, to the emasculation of the HRET, or we fight it,” he added.

He plans to be ready with the complaint by the time the Congress’ session resumes on Jan. 20. He said he was still determining which of the justices who ruled on Reyes’ case had deviated from established jurisprudence.

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