Senate has no power to remand VP Sara impeach rap —House prosecution team member

GMA Network

a day ago

House prosecution team member San Juan City Representative Ysabel Maria "Bel" Zamora on Wednesday questioned the action of the Senate remanding the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte back to the lower chamber.
Zamora pointed out that the Senate has no such power.
'Siyempre kami, nanonood buong gabi ay nagulat, na-shock ulit sa ginawang aksyon ng ating senators. Kasi for us, remanding the Articles of Impeachment back to Congress is beyond the powers of the Senate. Wala po silang kapangyarihan na gawin ang pag-remand na 'yan,' she told Dobol B TV in an interview.
(Of course, we, who were watching all night, were surprised, shocked again by the action taken by our senators. For us, remanding the Articles of Impeachment back to Congress is beyond the powers of the Senate. They do not have the power to do that.)
Zamora added that the job of the Senate as an impeachment court is to try and decide on the impeachment case and not to conduct a review.
'Remanding it or returning it to Congress is an act of review of the Senate. Hindi nga po ito trabaho ng Senado as an impeachment court dahil ang trabaho nila as impeachment court is to try and decide the case,' Zamora said.
(Remanding it or returning it to Congress is an act of review of the Senate. It is not the job of the Senate as an impeachment court because their job as an impeachment court is to try and decide the case.)
'So hindi po dapat binabalik ng Senado ang Articles of Impeachment. Several lawyers, legal luminaries, professors have already stated their opinion on that matter even last night,' she added.
(So the Senate should not return the Articles of Impeachment. Several lawyers, legal luminaries, professors have already stated their opinion on that matter even last night.)
On Tuesday evening, the Senate as an impeachment court voted to return to the House of Representatives the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte without dismissing or terminating them.
The motion was approved with 18 affirmative, five negative votes, and zero abstentions.
After hours of debate, Senator-judge Alan Peter Cayetano moved to amend Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa's motion–which was initially to dismiss the case–and instead made the motion that the Articles of Impeachment be returned to the House until such time that:
The House of Representatives certify to the non violation of Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which provides that 'No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within one year; include the circumstances on the filing of the first three impeachment complaints"; and
The House of Representatives of the 20th Congress communicates to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.
However, Zamora said that the House did not violate the one-year bar rule of impeachment, an issue that the lower chamber already addressed when they filed the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.
'Noon pa natin sinasagot 'yan, umpisa pa lang nang nag-file tayo ng Articles of Impeachment. Concern 'yan ng ibang tao, ng kabilang panig. Pero sabi na natin na wala po tayong nilabag sa Kongreso na batas or even the rules of the Congress. I think they were referring to the first three impeachment complaints' she said.
(We've been answering that since the beginning, when we filed the Articles of Impeachment. That's a concern for other people, for the other camp. But we've already said that we haven't violated any law or even the rules of Congress. I think they were referring to the first three impeachment complaints.)
She noted that only the fourth impeachment complaint received one-third of the House membership votes.
'Ang sabi natin diyan, yes, there were three impeachment complaints but these were consolidated into the fourth impeachment complaint and 'yung fourth po ang nakakuha ng one-third of the House membership na boto,' Zamora said.
(What we're saying is, yes, there were three impeachment complaints but these were consolidated into the fourth impeachment complaint and the fourth one got one-third of the House membership votes.)
'So 'yung mga nauna, ito po ay pinagsama-sama to form the fourth impeachment complaint at ito po 'yung pinasa sa Senado. And it was acted within the period na nakasaad na 10 session days,' she added.
(So the previous ones were combined to form the fourth impeachment complaint and this is what was passed to the Senate. And it was acted within the period stated as 10 session days.)
Zamora said that the mere fact that the Articles of Impeachment were sent to the Senate is 'a certification that we complied with the rules of the House."
Regarding the willingness of the House to pursue the impeachment complaint to the 20th Congress, Zamora said the consensus among their lawmakers is to continue the impeachment trial.
'Ang consensus po ay tuloy-tuloy lang talaga ang paglilitis dito sa ating impeachment, dito sa Articles natin. Wala pong question sa prosecutors or even sa mga congressmen kung tutuloy ito sa 20th Congress,' she said.
(The consensus is that the trial will continue in our impeachment, in our articles. There is no question among prosecutors or even among congressmen whether this will continue in the 20th Congress.)
'In fact wala din po sa maski anong batas natin, maski sa Saligang Batas natin na bawal tumuloy ito sa 20th Congress,' she added.
(In fact, there is nothing in any of our laws, not even in our Constitution, that forbids this from continuing in the 20th Congress.)
Following the 'shocking' action of the Senate, Zamora said the prosecutors will proceed with their scheduled meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss their possible next steps.
Duterte was impeached by the House on February 5 with more than 200 congressmen endorsing the verified complaint against her
The vice president was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
Duterte has denied the allegations. —KG, GMA Integrated News