‘Congress has exclusive power to impeach’
A member of the consultative committee (Concom) tasked by President Duterte to review the Charter is urging Congress to assert its exclusive power to remove impeachable officials, while scoring the ouster of Maria Lourdes Sereno as chief justice by her own colleagues in the Supreme Court (SC).
“My position is that impeachment is the only way you can remove the chief justice or the person subject of an impeachment,” Concom member and former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said.
He said Solicitor General Jose Calida’s filing a quo warranto petition to oust Sereno was usurpation of the power of Congress, which is the only branch of government allowed to remove an impeachable official.
SC magistrates voted 8-6 to grant Calida’s petition, effectively removing Sereno from her position as chief justice.
Pimentel said Congress should assert its right to tackle Sereno’s case through impeachment proceedings.
“In other words, gusto ko mangyari na hindi na maulit ang quo warranto ng (I wish there will be no more quo warranto by the) majority. The decision on Sereno’s case is not yet final and Congress has to assert its right to initiate impeachment,” Pimentel, a stalwart of the ruling PDP-Laban, said.
Another Concom member, Roan Libarios, told that they expect to finish by Monday their deliberation on Charter provisions concerning the judiciary and its jurisdiction, especially in the light of the ouster of Sereno.
Legal luminaries, including deans of law schools, have assailed the ouster of Sereno through quo warranto instead of impeachment, saying it’s clearly stated in the Constitution that only Congress can remove impeachable officials.
Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said the high tribunal has never sparked such a massive outrage – and soul searching – than in its ouster of Sereno as chief justice.
“Never in the 117-year history of the Supreme Court has any of its decisions ignited such a widespread and collective condemnation from an aggrieved nation than the 8-6 decision ousting chief justice Sereno in an improvident and unwarranted quo warranto petition,” Lagman said.
“The oppressive and unjust decision stabbed deep into and stung the conscience of the Filipino people,” he said.
He added that lawmakers, lawyers, law deans, the clergy and ordinary citizens “have actively denounced the inordinately unconstitutional verdict.”
Lagman maintained that the eight justices who voted to oust Sereno violated the Constitution “when they seized from the Congress the jurisdiction to remove the Chief Magistrate even as the House of Representatives was on the verge of voting on the articles of impeachment.”
“The Constitution unequivocally mandates that it is only by impeachment instituted by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate can an impeachable official be removed from office,” he said.
“The President, the Vice-President, the members of the Supreme Court, the members of the Constitutional Commissions and the Ombudsman may be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment,” he said, quoting the Constitution.
The Charter also provides that the House of Representatives “shall have the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment,” while the Senate “shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment.”
“These clear provisions of the Constitution were torn asunder by the eight justices, six of whom had openly expressed animosity against chief justice Sereno by testifying for her impeachment in the hearings conducted by the House committee on justice,” Lagman said.
His opposition colleague Tom Villarin of Akbayan has vowed to file an impeachment complaint against the eight anti-Sereno justices.
Administration allies have belittled Villarin’s initiative, saying it would be a futile exercise.
Amid protests against Sereno’s ouster, former solicitor general Florin Hilbay has called for sobriety amid calls for the impeachment of the eight justices who voted to remove her. –