The Senate is expected to push through with debates on the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte on August 6 despite a pending motion for reconsideration filed with the Supreme Court.
Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol on Tuesday said lawmakers are preparing for the plenary debates and may tackle a range of legal questions raised in their caucus.
“One of that is the question whether or not they should convene as an impeachment court or the Senate plenary will be able to vote on that,” he said during an interview.
Tongol said another point of discussion is whether the Senate will follow the Supreme Court’s decision that the Articles of Impeachment are unconstitutional.
Senators are also expected to discuss the contents of the House’s motion and the implications of its recent filing.
“One of the motions that may possibly raise is to defer the voting on this issue. We can possibly see that the impeachment process will not die tomorrow,” Tongol said.
Senator Bam Aquino on Tuesday argued that once the impeachment court is convened and the process has formally begun, jurisdiction lies with the Senate.
The senator said the impeachment court must be allowed to hear evidence, deliberate, and render a decision, whether it leads to conviction, acquittal, or dismissal.
“My position is to convene the impeachment court and let it decide. Some of our colleagues don’t want the impeachment court to convene; they want it dismissed outright,” he said.
Aquino acknowledged the Supreme Court’s differing position, but stressed the Senate’s duty to assert its institutional independence.
He pointed out that history has seen the Senate stand firm in defending its authority as a coequal body.
“At the very least, maybe it’s good to wait for the Supreme Court’s motion for reconsideration,” he said.
Senator Rodante Marcoleta earlier said the Senate chose August 6 for impeachment debates to provide a cooling-off period after intense discussions.
He clarified that the decision was not made to wait for any motion for reconsideration from the House of Representatives.
“Why would you wait for something that doesn’t exist? I agreed not because we’re waiting for a motion for reconsideration to be filed,” Marcoleta said.
The neophyte senator pointed out that the Supreme Court’s ruling was final and executory, and that the decision declared the impeachment complaint void from the beginning and unconstitutional.
