Prosecution to present impeachment articles no matter what 鈥� Zamora
San Juan City Lone District Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora. (Photo from the Facebook page of Atty. Bel Zamora)
MANILA, Philippines — A member of the House of Representatives’ prosecution team has made it clear that they will present the Articles of Impeachment against regardless of the any developments in the Senate.
San Juan Lone District Rep. Ysabel Zamora, in an online interview on Friday, also disclosed that Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro has been practicing in anticipation of the scheduled June 11 presentation.
Luistro was tasked to read the Articles before the Senate plenary
“Okay, so we have been preparing for several months and we are still preparing. In fact, the members of the panel are preparing for our presentation in the Senate,” she said.
“So we are not affected by what’s going on in the Senate — the draft resolution, the comments that we hear from the senators. We are still continuing to do our job because that is our job under the Constitution. So that is our duty,” Zamora stressed.
“We have to be ready to present the evidence. So that’s what we have been doing […],” according to her update.
“So far, all of us will be there… She (Luistro)… yes. She will present the Articles on June 11. She was practicing yesterday but we weren’t there because of other duties in Congress. But she was there. She was assisted by our private prosecutors,” she confirmed.
Zamora also said they have not imagined a scenario where the Senate will not convene as an impeachment court as the senators have no other recourse but to do so.
“Yes, we talked about that and we trust that the senators, the Senate, will convene as an impeachment court because that is what is stated in their rules,” she explained.
“And again, we go back to the Constitution where we derive all of this duty – obligation – from,” the lawmaker pointed out.
“It is stated in the Constitution that as soon as the Articles are transmitted from the House of Representatives to the Senate, they have to convene as an impeachment court because they are the sole trier of evidence for an impeachment case,” Zamora said.
“So, [amid] all of the noise around this, we are not minding these as prosecutors because we still expect that they, as senators, will do their duty under the Constitution,” the House member said.
There have been speculations that a Senate trial on Duterte’s impeachment might not push through after draft Senate resolutions were floated.
If a draft resolution is adopted by the majority of the senators, the impeachment raps will be dismissed due to the insufficiency of time to discuss the matter.
READ: Lacson: Draft reso to junk impeach bid vs Sara Duterte circulating
However, several lawyers like Zamora are pointing to Article XI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, which lays down the rules on impeachment.
Under Section 3 (1), the House has the power to initiate all impeachment complaints against impeachable officers — the president, vice president, members of the Supreme Court, constitutional commissions and the Ombudsman.
Meanwhile, Section 3 (6) gives the Senate the “sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment,” which, several legal luminaries believe, is an indication that trial must start before the Senate even decides to dismiss an impeachment case.
The same section states that a Senate trial “shall forthwith proceed” if the verified impeachment complaint, contained in a resolution, is filed and signed by one-thirds of all House members.
With 306 members in the House, any impeachment resolution would need 102 signatures.
This requirement was attained after 215 lawmakers signed the impeachment charge on February 5.
READ: Dismissing Sara Duterte’s impeachment thru Senate reso illegal – solons
Initially, Senate President Francis Escudero sent a letter to House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez inviting the House prosecution panel to present the Articles before the Senate plenary on Monday, June 2.
The impeachment proceedings would start supposedly by Tuesday, June 3.
However, on May 29, Escudero sent another letter to Romualdez informing him that the reading of the Articles will be rescheduled to June 11.
This will be the Senate’s last session day before the 19th Congress closes its sessions./apl
READ: Presentation of impeachment articles vs Sara Duterte moved to June 11
READ: De Lima: Escudero violating Constitution with impeachment trial delay
