IBP cautions Congress on misuse of impeachment

The country’s more than 55,000 lawyers cautioned Congress yesterday against the misuse of impeachment as a tool to undermine the independence of the judiciary.

In a statement, the members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) said “it is an assault upon the Constitution and the very ideal of limited government that is enshrined in it, when impeachment is misused as the very tool to undermine judicial independence.”

“May we express the hope that impeachment as a process is not being brandished as a weapon of submission, thereby defeating Constitutional design that the judicial branch be insulated from considerations other than the facts and the law in discharging its function of adjudication,” they said through IBP National President Abdiel Dan Elijah S. Fajardo.

Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. A. Sereno, the head of the country’s judiciary, has two impeachment complaints filed before the House of Representatives.

Chairman Andres Bautista of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) is also facing impeachment complaint for allegedly amassing more than P1 billion in wealth as former head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government and as incumbent chief of the poll body.

Sereno was accused of corruption for using public funds for alleged lavish lifestyle, failing to declare her fees as a lawyer in her statement of assets, liabilities and networth (SALN), and making and enforcing decisions without the approval of the 14 other members of the Supreme Court (SC).

Forty-one members of the House of Representatives have endorsed the impeachment complaints against Sereno.

Meanwhile, published reports stated that an impeachment complaint may also be filed against Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales.

In the case of Ombudsman Morales, those planning to file an impeachment complaint accused her of selective prosecution of cases and the filing of a weak case against then President Benigno Aquino III on the death of 44 members of the Special Action Force of the Philippine National Police.

The IBP said the Constitution “jealously protects the independence of the Judiciary as it is concededly the weakest of all three branches of government, and as the unelected branch, the judiciary’s sole standard of action is the rule of law rather than the public pulse.”

“Impeachment is a scalpel, not a broadsword and even if it were the latter, no sword retains its sharpness if swung too far and too often,” the IBP members said.

“As a multi-faceted organization with members from every point of the political spectrum, the IBP affirms its foremost allegiance to none other than the Rule of Law. While we acknowledge diversity in our members’ views, as well as the need to balance democratic ideals, the IBP’s current leadership will closely and impartially monitor these proceedings with the view that our institutions are preserved, not diluted,” they added.

At the House yesterday, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez officially and formally launched the impeachment process against the Supreme Court Chief Justice and Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista by endorsing referral to the Committee on Justice.

The move taken on three separate impeachment complaints also put an end to speculations that a creeping impeachment will be pursued against the two constitutional officials by gathering at least 98 endorsers in order to dispense with the justice panel proceedings and cause direct transmission to the Senate.

The Sereno complaints were filed separately by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon and the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, respectively.

The Gadon complaint was endorsed by 25 congressmen while 16 others supported the VACC complaint.

On the other hand, three congressmen endorsed the impeachment bid against Bautista that was filed by former Negros Occidental Rep. Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio.

Justice Committee chairman and Mindoro Oriental Rep. Rey Umali said Sereno and Bautista will be asked to respond to the charges against them if the complaints are found to be sufficient in form and in substance.

Umali and Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez had aired preference for the impeachment complaints to pass through the justice committee to allow House members a better appreciation of the issues raised against the constitutional officials.

Umali said a deeper study of the complaints will reduce any difficulty on the part of the Lower House to prosecute if the complaints are referred later to the Senate impeachment court.

The justice panel will set hearing on determination of form and substance as soon as the complaints are taken to them.