Consultative committee Photo by Pathricia Ann V. Roxas/INQUIRER.net
Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin was wrong when he slammed the Consultative Committee’s (Con-com) proposed version of the impeachment process and called it a “purely judicial” one, the Con-com spokesman said on Monday.
Con-com spokesman Ding Generoso said their proposed impeachment process was both political and judicial, contrary to Villarin’s statement it was “purely judicial proceeding.”
“Akbayan misreads the Con-com proposal by saying that it is a ‘purely judicial’ process, which is absolutely not the case,” Generoso said in a statement.
Villarin said that “the public will be left out in the process” under Con-com’s proposal.
But what the Con-com had proposed, Generoso said, was to make Congress the “initiator and prosecutor” of impeachment cases, and to create a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) where impeachable officials would be put on trial.
“Impeachment is going to be a joint jurisdiction of Congress – to initiate and prosecute – and the Constitutional Court to hold the trial. So it is neither purely judicial nor purely political. It is both political and judicial,” the Con-com spokesman explained.
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Once the impeachable official is indicted, Generoso explained that a joint impeachment committee created by both chambers of Congress would then filed their case before the FCC.
“Con-com’s proposal is a joint jurisdiction and process. The Congress initiates impeachment and serves as prosecutor. The trial is done before a judicial body—the proposed Constitutional Court,” Generoso said.
“By sharing the power, Congress and the and Judiciary check each other on matters of impeachment. There’s a better balance of power,” he explained. “Con-com’s proposal makes for a better check and balance system.”
Villarin had also claimed that “the Duterte-appointed Con-com proposal hews closely to what the present Supreme Court has done to Sereno who was removed by her peers at the instigation of the President’s Solicitor General.”
“It is like justifying to the public the unconstitutional deed of the eight justices by constitutional fiat via charter change,” he said.
But Generoso said it was “far from it.”
“In performing its mandate, the Con-com is not concerned with any persona—only with the system and how it can be improved,” the Con-com spokesman explained.
“There are countries where impeachment is a pure[ly] political process like in the US because it is lodged solely with Congress. There are those where impeachment is under the jurisdiction solely of the judiciary,” he said.