Senators raise concern over impeachment overload

MANILA, Philippines - A second impeachment complaint appears to be headed to the Senate soon and a number of senators have expressed concern about having nothing else to do but hold trials as judges in an impeachment court.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said that he and his colleagues have no choice but to accept the impeachment complaint against Supreme Court Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo once the House of Representatives transmits it to them. “Might as well, if they want to overload us with impeachment cases, why not impeach all the impeachable officers?” Estrada said.

The House committee on justice, chaired by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., on Tuesday found probable cause to impeach Del Castillo for alleged plagiarism even as the Senate impeachment court is still trying the case of Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the transmittal of a new impeachment complaint would most likely mean the Senate would no longer have time to legislate.

Sotto admitted the Senate would have its hands full with two impeachment cases being heard, so there would definitely be sacrifices.

“I don’t think we can (work on legislating). Unless they don’t want us to legislate anymore. We can set aside our legislative work and just act as an impeachment court the whole time,” Sotto said in Filipino.

Sotto, however, said the Senate could still set the schedule on when the next impeachment trial would start.

If there was no choice but to start the trial right away even if it overlaps with the trial of Corona, then so be it, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said.

“I can tackle it (another impeachment). If they want we can handle that one day and this case (Corona) on another day,” Enrile said.

He said it would all be a matter of budgeting the time of the Senate such as what they have been doing now with the ongoing impeachment trial of Corona, where legislative work is done in the morning.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson said he could not even get himself to think about another impeachment complaint being transmitted to the Senate.

Lacson said the Senate has no power to create another division, just like the other courts, to hear the case of Del Castillo at the same time with Corona.

“When that happens, we won’t have anything else to do but to hold impeachment trials. The legislative sessions and committee hearings would no longer be held because the impeachment would take up all of our time,” Lacson said.

Vendetta

Opposition lawmakers accused the Aquino administration of abusing and trivializing the impeachment process for political vendetta.

House Minority Leader and Quezon Rep. Danilo Suarez said the quick impeachment of Corona as well as the looming impeachment of Del Castillo was upon the instigation of Malacañang.

“We are concerned, together with a growing number of our countrymen, that the impeachment process is being systematically overused and abused, solely for partisan reasons, and at the expense of much government resources –not least of which is the Senate’s time and energy – which ought to be dedicated to making laws, addressing the burning issues of hunger and poverty, and paying closer attention to our people’s welfare,” Suarez said, reading the statement of the opposition bloc at the House.

Suarez and the opposition lawmakers said they were saddened that their colleagues in the majority “apparently (have) not learned their lesson from the worsening conduct of the impeachment” of Corona.

They said the minority bloc will not support moves to impeach Del Castillo, pointing out the deadline to act on the complaint has lapsed.

Because of their concern over the abuse of the process, the opposition bloc decided not to endorse the impeachment complaint filed against President Aquino by Danilo Lihaylihay as there is no evidence of an impeachable offense in that particular complaint.

“But more importantly, we realize that we should be able to practice what we preach. If we truly believe that impeachment should no longer be trivialized for partisan purposes, then we ought to set the example ourselves,” the statement said. – With Paolo Romero