Impeachment trial up to next Congress

SENATE President Francis Escudero said Monday that whatever the 19th Congress decides about the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will not be binding on the 20th Congress, which begins July 1.

The senator also said that although he already set the convening of the impeachment court on June 11, it is still up to the plenary to “ultimately decide” the direction of the proceedings against Duterte.

“The plenary is the supreme body of the Senate,” he said during a press briefing on Monday, hours before the Senate resumed session after a three-month break to give way to the midterm elections.

Senate President Francis Escudero. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN

“It gets to decide anything and everything although at first instance, it can be decided by the Senate president but ultimately, it will have to be confirmed and affirmed or rejected for that matter by plenary,” he said.

“So, the plenary of the 19th Congress can vote on that. But whatever our decision on this will not bind the 20th Congress [because it] might have a different view,” Escudero said in Filipino.

He added, “For example, the 19th Congress can say it can cross over to the 19th Congress. But the decision of the 20th Congress is that it will not and will dismiss it. So, it depends.”

Escudero also said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had no hand in his decision to move his earlier plan to convene the Senate as an impeachment court from June 3 to June 11.

During the plenary, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino said the “jurisdiction over impeachment is exclusive to the Congress that receives the complaint.”

He cited Supreme Court rulings which stated that “all legislative matters terminate with the expiration of Congress.”

“Unfinished business do not carry over into a new Congress. If we cannot conclude the trial before June 30, we must recognize this impeachment case as functionally dismissed by constitutional operation and no action can be taken by 20th Congress on the matter for lack of constitutional authority,” he said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, however, said that while she supports fellow senators’ shared sense of urgency in passing important legislation in the last days of the 19th Congress, including the landmark Anti-POGO bill, “we cannot postpone our constitutional obligations any longer.”

“It is true that the 19th Congress cannot bind the 20th Congress and all unfinished business will be terminated. But this is only true for any work done by us in the exercise of our legislative functions,” Hontiveros said.

“Any further delays in commencing the trial against Vice President Duterte would violate the Constitution, which clearly states that the Senate must forthwith proceed with an impeachment trial,” she said.

The Supreme Court, Hontiveros said, has also previously ruled that the Senate “is treated as a continuing body when it comes to non-legislative functions, and those include the vital duty to sit as an impeachment court.”

“We owe it to the Filipino people to convene as an impeachment court and begin the proceedings at the soonest possible time,” Hontiveros said.

Escudero reaffirmed that the plenary will ultimately decide on all impeachment matters pertaining to Duterte’s trial, as the Senate prepares for the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment on June 11.

The impeachment trial timeline has been adjusted from June 3 to June 11 to allow the Senate to focus on pending priority legislation before the 19th Congress adjourns, as agreed during last week’s Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council meeting in Malacañang.

The rescheduling aims to prioritize 12 bills, including amendments to the Foreign Investors’ Long-Term Lease Act, the E-Governance Act, and the Anti-POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operator) Act, which all require the Senate’s full attention before moving to impeachment proceedings.

Escudero said that while the Senate president may initially set the schedule, the plenary remains the supreme body that determines the course of proceedings and the direction the impeachment court will take.

He also said the rescheduling of the presentation of the articles of impeachment does not favor either side, since the date adjustment will not impede the Senate’s ability to proceed with the impeachment trial.

He added that even if the articles of impeachment were presented on June 2, the Senate’s authority would still be constrained by the congressional calendar, as the impeachment court could only move forward within the established procedural timeframes.

Escudero said under Senate rules, the vice president will have 10 days to respond to the summons once issued, while the House prosecutors will have five days to reply.

On top of these, any motion or objection would be deliberated in the plenary before the trial formally commences.

Incoming lawmaker Leila de Lima, meanwhile, alleged that Escudero was violating the Constitution by delaying the impeachment trial.

“That is clearly violative of what the Constitution says. Forthwith is forthwith,” de Lima said in a media interview on Monday.

“For me, the impeachment trial at this stage, the convening of the impeachment court and also proceeding with the impeachment trial are not optional,” she said.

Under the Constitution, the House of Representatives has the sole power to initiate impeachment cases.

De Lima, a former justice secretary, has agreed to serve as a member of the House prosecution team for the impeachment trial.

Speaker Martin Romualdez said he would leave to the Senate the next steps in connection with Duterte’s impeachment.

“We leave it to their sound discretion as to how they want to proceed and conduct [the trial],” Romualdez told reporters.

“The Senate President outlined the priority measures like the Ledac measures that they would like to prioritize first. So, we have to respect the decision of the Senate president and the Senate,” he said.

“The impeachment complaint has been transmitted to the Senate. So, it’s best we leave it to the sound discretion of the Senate on how they plan on disposing [of] it,” Romualdez said.