MANILA, Philippines – A group of Mindanao lawyers, allied with former president Rodrigo Duterte, has filed a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) to block the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Led by former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chief Martin Delgra and Apollo Quiboloy’s counsel, Israelito Torreon, the lawyers filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with the High Court on Tuesday, February 18, along with 27 other petitioners. Certiorari is a legal remedy sought to review a decision of another body believed to have committed grave abuse of discretion.
The lawyers also asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the impeachment proceedings. If issued, a TRO may temporarily stop an order from being implemented.
In a historic first, the House of Representatives impeached the Vice President on February 5, making the former presidential daughter the first vice president to face such a fate. A total of 240 lawmakers signed the petition, including Speaker Romualdez and presidential son, Ilocos Norte 1st District Sandro Marcos.
The impeachment complaints against the Vice President were hinged on the questionable use by her office of confidential funds.
In their petition, the lawyers argued that the articles of impeachment allegedly suffers from several constitutional infirmities.
“It is very defective because first, it did not consider the three priorly filed impeachment complaints. It did not likewise consider due process to their vice president. It did not also follow the constitutionally prescribed verification process and because of these three and other grounds the impeachment complaint should be dismissed and not entertained,” Torreon explained to reporters.
The lawyer also said the faulty verification process adds to the alleged constitutional infirmities.
“The verification process requires that it should be personally known, the allegations are personally known and studied by the respective congressmen who signed it…. We feel and we have reasons to believe that some of the congressmen were not even able to peruse the complaint as well as assess the evidences attached in the impeachment complaint,” Torreon added.
“It’s up to the Supreme Court but we pray that the Supreme Court will grant our prayers,” Torreon said, when asked how confident they were that the High Court would favor their petition.
At this point, the ball is now in the court of the Senate, whose members will serve as judges in the impeachment trial. Meanwhile, some lawmakers from the House of Representatives will stand as prosecutors in the trial. As in the previous impeachment proceedings, senators will vote whether or not to impeach the Vice President.
There are arguments that the Senate needs to immediately convene to start the trial as the Constitution uses the word “forthwith,” but Senate President Francis Escudero earlier said that their chamber will likely to constitute itself for the impeachment only after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address in July. Escudero also said that no impeachment trial will take place during their congressional break because at least seven senators are running for reelection.
On February 15, former Presidential Commission on Good Government special counsel Catalino Generillo Jr. also filed a petition with the SC, asking the High Court to direct the Senate to “immediately” constitute itself into an impeachment court and begin Duterte’s trial.
“The case (Generillo petition) was raffled today (February 17) and will possibly be included in tomorrow’s agenda, along with other petitions,” SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting told reporters on Monday. – Rappler.com