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Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Malilong: Long and rough ride ahead
By Frank Malilong
The Other Side
The three impeachment-complaints against President Arroyo were referred to the House committee on justice on July 25. Under the rules on impeachment that the House adopted on August 1, the committee has 60 days from that date to submit its report to the House together with its findings and recommendations. The report is supposed to already include, if the committee has found probable cause, the articles of impeachment that will be forwarded to the Senate.
As of Monday, August 28, the committee has not even decided whether or not any of the complaints was sufficient in form of substance. It is highly possible, as Sen. Joker Arroyo has warned, that the impeachment proceedings could last well beyond the term of the present Congress.
Indeed, I have very serious doubts if the justice committee could finish its job within the 60 sessions days. Note that within that period the committee has to do all the following things:
* Determine whether the complaint is sufficient in form and substance.
* Furnish the respondent a copy of the complaint with a notice to answer the same within the ten days from receipt and to furnish the complainant a copy of the answer. (Complainant will then have three days to file his reply and the respondent an equal number of days to submit his rejoinder.
* Determine whether the complaint alleges sufficient grounds for impeachment.
* Conduct a hearing.
If the justice committee finds probable cause, its report will be calendared “in accordance with the Rules of the House.” The House is supposed to have 60 session days from the submission of the report to approve or disapprove it.
Assuming that the Rules are followed to the letter, the House will have at the most 120 days within which to transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Note however that we`re talking not of ordinary, but session, days.
Moreover, the Rules also state that the voting on the report of the justice committee shall be by roll call with the Secretary General recording the vote of each member. Considering how talkative our congressmen are, the roll call voting can take a lifetime.
Of course, there’s a much shorter way and that is to secure at least one third of the entire House membership to endorse the impeachment complaint. The only trouble, however, is that the pro-impeachment congressmen do not seem to have the numbers.
Note that we`re only talking here of the process of initiating the impeachment in the House. The Senate will be the one trying and deciding the impeachment complaint. There, the process could even be longer, if the Estrada impeachment trial were to be a gauge. So brace yourselves, folks. We`re going to have a very long and rough ride ahead.
(August 31, 2005 issue)
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