A MEMBER of the House prosecution panel in the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte has questioned the authority of the Senate to return the articles of impeachment to the lower chamber.
In a radio interview, San Juan City Representative Ysabel Maria "Bel" Zamora maintained that the Senate, which serves as the impeachment court in the trial of Duterte, has no power to remand the complaints, noting that its job is to try and decide on the case.
“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,” Zamora said.
(Of course, we were watching all night and were surprised, shocked again, by the action taken by our senators. Because for us, remanding the Articles of Impeachment back to Congress is beyond the powers of the Senate. They have no authority to do that remand.)
“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, so hindi po dapat binabalik ng Senado ang articles of impeachment,” she added.
(Remanding it or returning it to Congress is an act of review by the Senate. This is not the job of the Senate as an impeachment court, because their role is to try and decide the case. So the Senate should not be sending back the articles of impeachment.)
Zamora stood firm that there was no violation of the rules or the Constitution, particularly the one-year bar rule on impeachment, on the part of the House of Representatives when it submitted the articles of impeachment, which were endorsed by more than one-third of the members of the lower chamber, to the Senate.
“Kasi nga the mere fact that the articles were transmitted to the senate is a certification that we complied with the rules of the House,” Zamora said.
(Because the mere fact that the articles were transmitted to the Senate is already a certification that we complied with the rules of the House.)
During a hearing after the Senate convened as the impeachment court in the trial of Duterte, the senator-judges approved the return of the complaints to the House of Representatives to clarify the following:
That the House of Representatives certify there was no violation of Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which states: “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within one year”; and include the circumstances surrounding the filing of the first three impeachment complaints; and
That the House of Representatives of the 20th Congress communicate to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.
The articles of impeachment, approved by over 250 House members and submitted to the Senate in February, on the last day of session before a four-month break related to the May 2025 elections, constituted the fourth impeachment complaint filed before the lower chamber within the one-year period.
Zamora explained that the articles of impeachment submitted to the Senate were a consolidation of all the complaints filed in the chamber.
She said the House acted within the prescribed period of 10 session days.
Zamora also hit back at Senate President Francis Escudero, who said it was the fault of the House of Representatives that the complaints could not be resolved within the 19th Congress, as the submission came late.
Escudero earlier said that the impeachment trial would be held in the 20th Congress.
However, there were concerns about whether the articles of impeachment submitted during the 19th Congress can be carried over to the next.
Zamora stood firm that the House of Representatives is not at fault, saying that the Senate should have discussed the matter even while on break, since an impeachment trial is a non-legislative function of the Senate.
“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. In fact, wala din po sa maski anong batas natin, maski sa Saligang Batas natin na bawal tumuloy ito sa 20th Congress,” said Zamora.
(The consensus is that the impeachment trial, specifically on our Articles, should proceed without interruption. There is no question among the prosecutors or even among the congressmen about it continuing into the 20th Congress. In fact, there is nothing in any of our laws, not even in our Constitution, that prohibits it from continuing in the 20th Congress.)
“Ang impeachment po ay isang function ng senado na hindi po kagaya ng paggawa ng batas. It is in a class of its own kaya pwede ito tumuloy on the 20th congress maski hindi ginagawa ng Senado ang kanilang bill-making powers,” she added.
(Impeachment is a function of the Senate that is different from lawmaking. It is in a class of its own, which is why it can proceed in the 20th Congress even if the Senate is not exercising its bill-making powers.)
In a radio interview, Lawyer Christian Monsod, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, said the Senate’s job is to hold a trial on impeachment cases and not to determine if it is constitutional or not.
He said the Senate seems to be delaying the trial.
“What are they afraid of?” Monsod said. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)