Idea that impeachment trial may not proceed 'disturbing,' complainants' lawyer says

GMA Network

2 days ago

'Dapat ipagpatuloy, dapat litisin ng Senado 'yung Vice President and come up with a decision either acquitting or convicting the impeachable official. A no-impeachment trial scenario is a violation of the Constitution,' Ligutan said.
A lawyer for some of the parties who filed an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte said it was "disturbing" that there was a chance that the Senate, as an impeachment court, would not hear the articles of impeachment against her.
Atty. Armando Virgil Ligutan, a counsel for those who filed the third impeachment complaint, said Article 11 of the Constitution only provided for the conviction or acquittal of the impeached official, not dismissal.
'Nakakabahala lang 'yung idea na pupwede hindi ipagpatuloy ng Senate 'yung isang constitutional duty, which is to try the Vice President in an impeachment trial," Ligutan said.
(It is disturbing, the idea that it is an option for the Senate to not proceed with its constitutional duty to try the Vice President in an impeachment trial.)
"For me, that is unthinkable within the four corners of the 1987 Constitution,' he added.
'Dapat ipagpatuloy, dapat litisin ng Senado 'yung Vice President and come up with a decision either acquitting or convicting the impeachable official. A no-impeachment trial scenario is a violation of the Constitution,' Ligutan added.
(The Senate should proceed with the impeachment trial and come up with a decision.)
Renato Reyes of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said the impeachment trial was "a constitutional mandate" of the Senate.
He said groups would protest in front of the Senate on Tuesday morning to assail the delays of the trial. Impeachment complainants will also hold a press conference at the House of Representatives at 11 a.m. to demand that the trial proceed forthwith.
"The impeachment trial is a constitutional mandate and cannot be left to the discretion of the senators. It cannot be up to the 20th Congress in the sense that they will still determine whether or not the trial will push through," Reyes said.
"It is their constitutional duty to push through with the trial under the 20th congress. It is our view that this is not something that should even be voted on by the senators of the 20th congress. The constitution is clear that a trial must commence," he added.
Former legislator and ex-vice president Leni Robredo spokesman Atty. Barry Gutierrez today called out the Senate's apparent inaction on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Gutierrez described the inaction as a blatant affront to the Constitution and to the will of the Filipino people.
'The Constitution mandates that after the House passes the Articles of Impeachment, the Senate shall forthwith proceed with the trial,' Gutierrez said. 'Hindi po ito isang suggestion, ito ay constitutional obligation (This is not a suggestion, but a constitutional obligation).'
Senate President Francis Escudero on Monday said that it was up for the 20th Congress to decide whether the impeachment trial of Sara Duterte would proceed.
Sara Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 5, with over 200 congressmen endorsing the articles of impeachment against her.
This complaint, a consolidation of the three separate impeachment complaints filed against the Vice President by various groups, accuses her of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes mainly over alleged misuse of around P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., his wife Liza and the President's cousin and Speaker and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez.
'Now, it could be argued that dismissal is like acquittal. But for me, that would be engaging in legal gymnastics. We are stretching what is otherwise clear in the Constitution," said Fr. Flavie Villanueva, one of the convenors of the People's Impeachment Movement.
"The Senate must proceed with a trial and either acquit or convict the impeachable official, who in this case is the Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines," he added.
PIM's Pastor Leonard Arevalo, the Senior Pastor of the San Bartolome Christian Fellowship, then called on the Senate to rise above political pressure and act in defense of public interest.
'Hindi dapat bumigay ang Senado sa anumang pressure o impluwensiya. Dapat nitong gampanan ang kanyang tungkulin sa ilalim ng ating Saligang Batas at panagutin ang mga nagkasala sa bayan,' Arevalo said.
(The Senate should not give in to pressure and influence and fulfill their mandate as stated in our Constitution: hold those who sinned against the country accountable.) –NB, GMA Integrated News