Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa’s draft resolution urging his colleagues to junk the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is unconstitutional and will be challenged in the Supreme Court if it is passed.
“It’s unconstitutional, if not absurd and ridiculous,” former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares, a prosecutor in the 2012 impeachment trial of then Chief Justice Renato Corona, told CoverStory.ph in an interview by phone.
Colmenares, a human rights lawyer, said Dela Rosa should be reminded that only the Senate acting as an impeachment court is authorized by the 1987 Constitution to try and acquit or convict an impeached official.
In the same manner, he said, Congress cannot revise or amend the Charter unless it convenes itself into a constituent assembly.
“On its face, [the resolution] is unconstitutional because it’s giving power to a body which has no authority to do it. This is like a motion to dismiss, but the problem is, the Senate has no power to dismiss an impeachment case,” the former lawmaker said.
He said the authority to acquit or convict an impeached official after a trial is lodged with the impeachment court.
“Even if the entire Senate passes it, it’s unconstitutional. Ultra vires—they don’t have the power to do that,” Colmenares said, pointing out that the Senate’s legislative power is separate from its mandate to hear an impeachment complaint as a court.
“If the Senate insists on that, we go to the Supreme Court,” he added. “We can file a petition for certiorari to question grave abuse of discretion and unconstitutionality. Expect many others to go to the Supreme Court.”
‘Inability of the Senate’
Dela Rosa, a protégé of former president Rodrigo Duterte, confirmed on Wednesday that he crafted the draft resolution after a digital copy of it circulated on social media and his colleague, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, admitted receiving a printed copy for his reference.
“Whatever you read there, that’s my stand,’’ Dela Rosa told reporters. He had earlier acted as though he knew nothing of the resolution.
The document cited the “inability of the Senate” to act on the complaint 100 days after 215 members of the House of Representatives transmitted the articles of impeachment, as well as the chamber’s lack of “sufficient time” to tackle it.
It emerged amid growing criticism of Senate President Francis Escudero’s announced deferment of the reading of the articles from June 2 to June 11 so that, he said, the approval of 12 pending bills would be prioritized before Congress adjourns sine die on June 14.
Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson told dzMM on Wednesday that he himself had received a copy of the resolution from a Senate “insider.” He predicted that it could be questioned in the high court if approved in plenary.
“It is making the rounds in the Senate so that if it gets enough signatures, it can be debated upon and possibly adopted if it has the support of the majority,’’ Lacson said. “If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the petitioner, it can compel the Senate to continue with the impeachment trial.’’
Like any other resolution, Dela Rosa’s resolution has to go through the legislative mill, Lacson explained. First, it has to be authored by at least one senator to be referred to a committee. In turn, the committee will report it out after it is approved by a majority of the members for final adoption in plenary.
Lacson has yet to respond to CoverStory.ph’s request for an interview at this writing.
Future senator-judge
According to Colmenares, what makes the resolution “more absurd” is the fact that Dela Rosa, a future senator-judge, initiated it even before the Vice President moves to dismiss the complaint in the yet to be convened impeachment court.
“The senator-judge himself is making the motion to dismiss,” Colmenares said.
The human rights lawyer also said Dela Rosa was indicting the Senate itself when he claimed that the chamber had not acted on the articles of impeachment since Feb. 5 when these were transmitted by the House.
“Sara’s rights were violated? Tell that to a poor guy who has been in jail for five years,” Colmenares said. “What about the rights of the complainants?”
Colmenares also wondered why Dela Rosa was opposed to the impeachment trial when Duterte herself had declared agreement with the view of an overwhelming majority of Filipinos that she should address the charges and clear her name.
“The complainants and the respondent want it, but the senator who is supposed to be a judge is opposed to it. How absurd is that?” Colmenares said.
He expressed hope that the Senate would convene into an impeachment court this week, send the summons to the Vice President, and conduct the trial every day, morning to afternoon, from June 16 to June 30, when the 19th Congress ends.
He said wrapping up the trial by the end of the month is doable if the impeachment court focuses only on Duterte’s alleged misuse of more than P612 million in confidential funds.
“The evidence for the P612 million is already authenticated and can be submitted in three days,” Colmenares said, noting that the documents from the Commission on Audit and the Department of Budget and Management are readily available. “This is an open-and-shut case that can be resolved easily before June 30.”
Colmenares had earlier said Duterte may be convicted for her unexplained 11-day spending of P125 million of the secret funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President in December 2022 alone. That amount is twice the minimum threshold of P50 million for the crime of plunder.
Duterte is accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust for, among others, her alleged misuse of more than P612 million in confidential funds and for her alleged threat to assassinate President Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Forum for truth-telling
In an open letter, faculty members of the University of the Philippines College of Law expressed concerns over moves to “preemptively dismiss” the impeachment case.
“We do so because we wish to see the evidence, hear the Vice President’s defense, and, with our fellow Filipinos, judge for ourselves her fitness to continue in public service,” the signatories said.
“In these difficult moments, the people look to their Senate to be the forum for the country’s most important truth-telling procedure because of its seniority, independence and reputation for statesmanship,” they said, adding that a dismissal without a hearing will “permanently alter our system of checks and balances” and “undermine the people’s trust in the Senate as an independent and impartial institution.”
Among the signatories are Paolo Tamase, Raul Pangalangan, Dante Gatmaytan, Theodore Te, Antonio La Viña, and Jay Batongbacal.
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