But Senate debates on VP Sara’s trial to push through today
The Supreme Court upheld its decision junking the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as “immediately executory.”
SC spokesperson Camille Ting said the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives on Monday has no direct effect on the immediately executory nature of the decision.
The High Court also said its July 25 ruling to grant the petitions by Duterte and lawyer Israelito Torreon to dismiss the fourth impeachment complaint for violating the one-year ban on multiple impeachment proceedings was unanimous.
“The SC required petitioners Vice President Sara Z. Duterte and Atty. Israelito P. Torreon et al. to comment on the motion within a non-extendible period of 10 days from notice,” the SC said.
Duterte’s impeachment trial spokesperson, Michael Poa, said they will comply with the Supreme Court’s order.
“We will comply with the order of the Supreme Court and submit our comment within the period provided,” Poa said in a text message.
The High Court likewise “noted” the motion for reconsideration filed by Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña and other petitioners remains pending.
As this developed, a separate motion was filed on Tuesday afternoon by the 1SAMBAYAN Coalition, represented by retired SC justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Morales, asking the High Tribunal to reconsider its ruling on the Articles of Impeachment.
The coalition also asked the High Court to issue a status quo ante order to prevent the Senate from any further action while motions are pending.
The Senate, however, is expected to push through with its debates on the impeachment proceedings today (August 6).
Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol on Tuesday said the senators are already preparing for the plenary debates and may tackle a range of legal questions raised during the caucus.
“One of those 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 in an interview.
“And last is the possibility for them to wait for the motion for reconsideration which was filed Monday. Senators would also consider the contents of the House of Representatives’ motion.”
“One of the motions that may also possibly be raised is to defer the voting on this issue. We can possibly see that the impeachment process will not die tomorrow,” Tongol added.
Senator Bam Aquino on Tuesday argued that once the impeachment court is convened and the process has formally begun, jurisdiction already lies with the Senate.
“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 said the Senate is duty-bound to assert its institutional independence.
“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 Upper Chamber chose August 6 for impeachment debates to provide a “cooling-off period” after intense discussions.
He said the decision was not made to wait for any motion for reconsideration from the House of Representatives.
