House won’t transmit CJ impeachment to Senate

The House of Representatives will no longer transmit the impeachment complaint against ousted chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno to the Senate for trial, unless the Supreme Court (SC) ruling is reversed.

“The sole purpose of an impeachment proceeding is the removal of an officer from office. If such officer is no longer holding that office, the impeachment proceeding obviously becomes moot and academic,” Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said yesterday.

However, Fariñas said if the SC decides to reverse its ouster of Sereno, the House would still vote to transmit the impeachment complaint to the Senate.

On Thursday, Mindoro Oriental Rep. Reynaldo Umali, who chairs the justice committee, said the House would send the case to the archives if the SC removed its own chief justice.

Before lawmakers went on an eight-week Lenten break in March, the panel had voted to recommend Sereno’s impeachment and send the complaint against her to the Senate for trial.

The House is scheduled to vote on the committee report shortly after Congress reconvenes on Tuesday.

Umali said he expected the chamber to vote in plenary to support his panel’s recommendation.

The committee has taken four to five months to conduct hearings on the impeachment complaint against Sereno filed by lawyer Lorenzo Gadon, who is identified with the Marcoses and former president and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In February, before leaving for the Boao Forum in China, President Duterte declared himself an enemy of Sereno, who had insisted that he was behind the quo warranto petition of Solicitor General Jose Calida questioning the validity of her appointment as chief magistrate.

“I am putting on notice that I am now your enemy, and you have to be out of the SC,” Duterte said.

He said he would encourage Calida to do his best in convincing the SC justices to oust Sereno.

The President said he would also ask Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to expedite the transmittal of the impeachment case to the Senate.

“I am asking Congress, what’s taking you long? Do not create any crisis in this country. I will not hesitate to do what is to be best interest of my country. If it calls for your forced removal, I will do it,” Duterte said.

Sereno has repeatedly asked her critics in the House and in the SC to let her defend herself before the Senate impeachment court.

Supporters of Sereno believed she would get a fair trial in the Senate and had better chances of escaping conviction than being removed by her peers.

It would require the vote of 16 senators to convict her. Since six opposition senators could be her natural allies and because there are only 23 sitting senators, she would need only two more support- ers to stay in office.

Senate impeachment trial

Sereno’s impeachment trial at the Senate is unlikely to push through after the SC ousted her in an unprecedented ruling, senators said yesterday.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said the action of the chamber in the aftermath of the SC decision depends on the next move of the House of Representatives, which still holds the articles of impeachment against Sereno.

“If they transmit (the articles of impeachment) to the Senate, then we acquire jurisdiction over the articles. If they don’t transmit, then we have no one to try,” Pimentel told reporters.

He said there is no more time for senators to hold a caucus on the matter.

Last month, Pimentel said the SC should explain in its ruling why it was taking cognizance of the quo warranto petition of Calida.

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Sen. Panfilo Lacson said they do not expect the House to transmit the articles of impeachment to the chamber.

“The biggest ‘winners’ in the SC decision were the dumb lawyers who were ready to spew stupidity in the impeachment trial that will no longer happen because the House will likely no longer transmit the articles of impeachment to the Senate,” Lacson said.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said Sereno should given the chance to defend herself before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said the SC ruling must be respected as “to do otherwise is to make our personal opinion higher than what we regard as supreme.”

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the two chambers of Congress must insist on its prerogative to remove erring impeachable officials.

“This issue does not end here. Congress must insist on its duty and obligation under the Constitution that states that impeachment is the only way to oust a chief justice,” Pangilinan said.

Gadon relieved

Gadon, the proponent in the impeachment case against Sereno, said he was relieved with the SC ruling.

He thanked the SC justices who voted to remove Sereno from office.

Gadon said he was happy that the ouster of Sereno took a shorter route as the impeachment proceeding would no longer proceed.

He said he offered the “victory” to the family of the late chief justice Renato Corona, who was impeached during the Aquino administration.

Gadon expressed confidence that the SC would not overturn its ruling.

He said Sereno should not be called former chief justice as her appointment was void from the start.

“In fact, on Tuesday I will ask the high court to take down all the photos of Sereno in the justice hall,” he said.

Gadon said Sereno should have heeded his advice to resign before the ruling on the quo warranto case was issued.