SC can rule if Congress has abused power in impeachment cases, says lawyer

The Supreme Court has the power and jurisdiction to determine if the House of Representatives or the Senate has abused its power even in the handling impeachment complaints, law expert Romulo Macalintal said in a statement on Tuesday.

Earlier, the camp of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno said seeking relief from the Supreme Court would be an option of the House Committee on Justice would turn down with finality in their bid to cross-examine the witnesses against her.

Members of the House Committee on Justice maintained that only the Chief Justice, not her lawyers, could cross examine the witnesses against her.

According to Macalintal, however, the Supreme Court, under under Section 1, Article VIII of the 1987 Constitution, has broad power “to review the acts of any branch or instrumentality of the Government to determine if any of their officials committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack of jurisdiction in the performance of their functions.”

“Sereno could argue that any denial of such constitutional right by the HR constitutes grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction,” Macalintal said.

The power of the SC to review acts of Congress in impeachment cases had been tested in the impeachment cases filed against then Chief Justice Hilario Davide in 2003 and former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez in 2010.

In the Davide case, where Macalintal was one of the petitioners, the high court declared the impeachment complaint as unconstitutional for being violative of the constitutional provision that “no impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once in a year.”

On the other hand, in the Gutierrez case, the SC issued a temporary restraining order that stopped the impeachment proceedings against her, although eventually her petition was dismissed by the SC and the House proceeded with the impeachment case against her.

“In a word, there is nothing to prevent Sereno from raising before the SC the issue of whether or not she could be represented by her lawyers during the said hearing at the HR Committee on Justice,” Macalintal said. “This would be a ‘case of first impression’ and it would be of great help to the bench, the lawyers and the public if the SC could make a definitive ruling on this issue for their guidance should a similar case arise in the future.” Macalintal said. /atm