The progressive bloc in Congress is up in arms over Senate’s decision to return the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives.
The Makabayan Coalition said the Senate impeachment court’s decision on Tuesday night is “unprecedented and unconstitutional,” calling it brazen and a dangerous departure from procedure.
“[This sets] a perilous precedent that undermines impeachment as a means for exacting accountability from the highest officials,” Makabayan said in statement Wednesday.
“The Senate’s action is not only legally baseless but also a clear abdication of its constitutional duty to try impeachment cases,” ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, Gabriela Women’s Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan Youth Rep. Raoul Manuel jointly said.
Voting 18-5-0, the newly convened impeachment court ordered the HOR to certify it did commit any violation in consolidating three earlier impeachment complaints filed by different groups into the one that eventually made its way to the Senate.
The approved motion also asked the Lower House if it intends to pursue impeachment trials against Duterte once the 20th Congress takes over on July 20.
Senate President Francis Escudero said that the decision is not a dismissal of the entire impeachment trial.
Senator-Judge and Senate Minority Floor Leader Aquilino Martin Pimentel III, one of the five who opposed Senator Allan Peter Cayetano’s motion, however said the decision was “unnecessary,” which could have been achieved by a mere memorandum to the HOR.
The Makabayan bloc, an endorser of the second impeachment complaint, said the HOR has made its position clear in sending the articles of impeachment over to the Senate last February.
“Our job here at the HOR has been accomplished. It is now to Senate’s responsibility to try the case,” Rep. Castro said.
“As a co-equal House, the Senate has no right to order the HOR to explain itself in a process that impeached the Vice President,” she added.
Brosas said Senate’s maneuver will only further inflame the “burgeoning outrage” of the Filipino people who are “witnessing the systematic erosion of democratic processes.”
“The Senate’s decision effectively nullifies the House’s constitutional prerogative to impeach and denies the Filipino people their right to see justice served through proper constitutional channels,” she added.
Manuel meanwhile cautioned the Senate to refrain from treating Filipinos as clueless.
“The people are aware who institutions are manipulated to protect corrupt officials,” Manuel warned.
The Coalition called on patriotic Filipinos to reject the “constitutional travesty” and demanded that the Senate fulfill its sworn duty to uphold the Constitution.
It also called on their colleagues in both houses of Congress to “stand firm.”
“Attaining justice and accountability depends on our collective resolve to defend it against those who would manipulate it for their own ends,” it said.
Condemnations
Meanwhile, the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM) condemned the impeachment trial’s as a “regressive move” that already came “after months of undue delay.
UPLM said Tuesday night’s development gravely undermined the clear mandate of the Constitution to ensure accountability from public officials and ultimately, subverted the public’s right to demand justice.
“The Constitution, the supreme law of the land, unequivocally ‘commands’ the Senate to ‘forthwith proceed with the trial upon transmission’ of the articles of impeachment,” UPLM said.
Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) also condemned the latest delay in the impeachment trial as “unacceptable.”
“It is a shameless abdication of their constitutional mandate that will not be soon forgotten. Those in power have again chosen to uphold impunity and set aside accountability,” BAYAN president Renato Reyes Jr. said.
Reyes said the so-called return of the impeachment articles to the HOR is worse than dismissal because it attempts to undo the achievement of impeaching a powerful corrupt official.
“The spineless and weak sauce move to remand the articles of impeachment to the House deserves the strongest condemnation by the people,” Reyes said.
BAYAN, the Makabayan Coalition and various other progressive groups are set to hold a protest rally at the Senate at 2:30 pm.
“Join us to express our utmost indignation over this grand betrayal,” Reyes said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
