Con-com proposes to make impeachment both a judicial, political process

Unlike the political process followed under the present Charter, President Rodrigo Duterte’s Consultative Committee (Con-com) wants to make impeachment both a judicial and political process.

Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, chairman of the Con-com, said the impeachment process under a federal constitution would involve a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) as well as Congress.

Puno said the indictment would come from Congress while the trial, which would become “a strictly judicial proceeding,” would be handled by the FCC.

“The sense of the committee is that the process of impeachment should be both political and judicial in nature,” Puno told reporters in a press briefing on Monday.

The former chief magistrate explained that the duty of both chambers of Congress in an impeachment process would be to serve as the initiator and a prosecutor.

“The process is given both to the House and the Senate. It is a joint power to be exercised by both houses,” Puno explained.

The impeachment body, Puno said, would be a joint committee composed of 12 members of the Senate and 12 members of the House, led by the Senate President as presiding officer.

Under their proposal, Puno said once the joint impeachment committee indicts the impeachable official, the case is immediately filed before the FCC.

“The trial now will be strictly a judicial proceeding,” the former chief magistrate said.

Puno touted that their proposed impeachment process was “a system that you cannot find in other countries.”

What about quo warranto?

To recall, former Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was the first impeachable official of the government to be ousted not through impeachment but a quo warranto proceeding.

Asked whether or not a quo warranto proceeding would be prohibited when the proposed impeachment process was ongoing, Puno said the matter was still up to a discussion.

“We have not reached that point,” Puno said, adding that the Con-com’s sub-committee on judiciary was set to tackle grounds of impeachment in the following sessions.

“In some stages of our discussions, we will also be reviewing the grounds of impeachment. Over the years, these grounds were subject of heavy contentions and hopefully, we shall be able to review these different grounds,” the former chief justice explained.

Sereno was ousted after the Supreme Court voted 8-6 in favor of the quo warranto case filed by Solicitor General Jose Calida over her failure to file her complete statements of assets, liabilities and net worth. /vvp