MANILA, Philippines – Nagkasagupa sina Senador Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan at Jinggoy Estrada nitong Miyerkules, Nobyembre 19, patungkol sa pagiging mas mataas ng Senate impeachment court kaysa sa Korte Suprema kaugnay sa impeachment cases.
Sa plenary deliberations ng Senado sa proposed budget ng judiciary, inalala ni Estrada ang naging pahayag ni Pangilinan na mas mataas ang Senate impeachment court sa SC.
Ito umano ay nang magkaroon ng caucus ang Senado at pag-usapan ang impeachment trial ni Vice President Sara Duterte.
“Do you still stand by your statement that the impeachment court is higher than the SC? Because I’m not a lawyer but I stand in law for four years. But I really beg to disagree that the impeachment court is higher than the SC,” ani Estrada.
Tumugon naman dito si Pangilinan, sponsor ng proposed budget ng judiciary at sinabing mas mataas ito sa usapin na ang umuupong SC justice ay maaaring i-dismiss ang impeachment cases na pinagdesisyunan ng Senate impeachment court.
“In that regard, we are able to hold an SC justice to account. We render judgment. It’s a novel legal question and legal argument,” ani Pangilinan.
Sa Section XI ng 1987 Constitution, sinasabi na, “Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose, the senators shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Philippines is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, but shall not vote. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.”
Samantala, ang SC, bilang pinakamataas na korte ay kilala rin bilang “court of last resort.”
Dito na ginisa ni Estrada kung sinasabi ba ni Pangilinan na maaaring ipatawag ng Senado ang mga justices ng SC at direktang humarap sa kanila.
Sumagot si Pangilinan at tinukoy ang impeachment case ni dating Chief Justice Renato Corona.
“Because it was an impeachment,” ani Estrada.
Sumang-ayon dito si Pangilinan at sinabing ito ang konteksto kung bakit niya sinabing ang Senate impeachment court ay “supreme” sa sarili nitong hurisdiksyon.
“That is the context of why I said that as an impeachment court, we are supreme in our own jurisdiction and may, in fact, be higher than the SC in that regard when it comes to impeachment process,” anang senador.
“Because the supreme law of the land says so, that we have the sole power. It says sole, sole power, it does not say anything else but sole power to try and decide impeachment cases,” dagdag pa ni Pangilinan.
Sa kabila nito, nanindigan si Estrada sa paniniwala niyang ang SC ay mas mataas pa rin sa anumang korte.
“I still believe in my own thoughts that the… impeachment court is sui generis and I believe that the SC is still higher than anyone else, any court in particular, including the impeachment court,” sinabi ni Estrada.
Inalala ni Pangilinan na dati nang nagbotohan ang Senado kung irerespeto ba nito ang injunction na inisyu ng Korte Suprema sa Corona impeachment case.
“We voted to respect the SC ruling. In other words, we could have voted not to, but of course that was not the case. It was an exercise of our exclusive power as an impeachment court.”
“Kung saka sakali, what if the vote was overturned, 12-10… In favor of not respecting the opinion of the SC, what will happen?” ayon naman kay Estrada.
“It’s speculative… It didn’t happen,” sagot ni Pangilinan.
Ani Estrada, maaari siyang turuan ni Pangilinan sa usapin bilang isang abogado ngunit tumanggi na ang senador at sinabing ang tanong ay “speculative.”
Dito naman nagtanong si Estrada kung ang SC ay may kapangyarihan na suriin ang impeachment proceedings sa grave abuse of discretion.
Sinasabi umano sa Konstitusyon, ani Pangilinan, ang kapangyarihang ito ng SC. RNT/JGC
