MANILA, Philippines 鈥� A petition to stop the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte due to inaction on the past three complaints can be considered moot already, House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco said on Tuesday.
In a message to reporters, Velasco said that the three complaints have been archived already, after the fourth impeachment complaint was filed, endorsed, and verified by 215 lawmakers last February 5.
Velasco was responding to lawyer Israelito Torreon鈥攐ne of the petitioners before the Supreme Court鈥攚ho said that the House did not observe the 1987 Constitution鈥檚 rules on acting on impeachment complaints within 10 session days.
鈥淭his issue is moot. The three impeachment complaints, filed earlier by order of the plenary on February 5th, have been transmitted to the Archives,鈥� Velasco said.
READ: Petition to stop impeachment trial vs VP Duterte filed at Supreme Court
鈥�(A total of) 215 House Members filed an Impeachment Complaint against the Vice President and I was ordered by the Plenary to transmit that to the Senate also on February 5th,鈥� he added.
Earlier, lawyers from Mindanao filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the Supreme Court, asking that the Senate trial on Duterte鈥檚 impeachment be stopped, while declaring the complaint null and void.
READ: Carpio: Special session possible for GAA, VP trial
According to an advisory, the petition 鈥渜uestions the impeachment process arising from the said complaint considering that the initiation of the same was procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm and jurisdictionally void.鈥�
Duterte was impeached after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth complaint. This allowed the House to immediately transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate for a trial, as the Constitution states that a trial can start forthwith if over one-thirds of all House members鈥攊n this case, 102 out of 306 lawmakers鈥攈ave signed and endorsed the petition.
There were seven articles of impeachment in the verified complaint sent to the Senate:
- betrayal of public trust, commission of high crimes due to her threats to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez
- betrayal of public trust and graft and corruption due to misuse of CFs within the DepEd and the OVP
- betrayal of public trust and bribery within the DepEd
- violation of the 1987 Constitution and betrayal of public trust due to unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets
- commission of high crimes, due to involvement in extrajudicial killings in the drug war
- betrayal of public trust due to allege destabilization plots and high crimes of sedition and insurrection, and
- betrayal of public trust due to her unbecoming conduct as Vice President
Trial however has not started yet, as there are conflicting views on how the impeachment proceedings would go. Some have expressed concerns that if trial starts during the 19th Congress, some members of the Senate 鈥� who will sit as senator-judges 鈥� would no longer be in office for the 20th Congress as they are not eligible for reelection.
At the House , there are also questions if it is proper to assign prosecutors this early as their seats in the 20th Congress are not assured, due to their posts being up for grabs in the midterm elections.
Even former senator Leila de Lima鈥攕upporter of moves to impeach Duterte and spokesperson for the first set of complainants鈥攁dmitted last January 17 that this issue remains an open question.
However, other legal luminaries like former senator Franklin Drilon and retired Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio believe Duterte鈥檚 impeachment is enough basis to call for a special session, so that the Senate can move on with the trial.
Earlier too, Makabayan bloc lawmakers鈥擜CT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, Gabriela party-list Rep. Arlene Brosas, and Kabataan party-list Rep. Raoul Manuel鈥攃laimed that the petition is a 鈥渓ast-ditch effort鈥� by the Duterte camp to escape scrutiny.