MANILA, Philippines – Inihayag ni dating Supreme Court Chief Justice Reynato Puno nitong Miyerkules na hindi sakop ng Supreme Court (SC) ang Senate impeachment court at walang probisyon sa 1987 Constitution na tahasang nagpapahintulot sa SC na rebyuhin ang mga patakaran ng impeachment court.
Isa si Puno sa mga eksperto na inimbitahan bilang amici curiae o friend of the court upang magbigay ng expert opinion sa vote threshold na kailangan para ma-convict ang isang impeached official.
“The impeachment court is not under the SC. The senator-judges are not like the judges of the regular courts of law who are all under the supervision of the SC,” aniya sa impeachment trial ni Vice President Sara Duterte.
“It is for this reason, your honors, that the Senate impeachment court was granted judicial power,” dagdag niya.
Binanggit ng hukom ang Article XI, Section VI ng Konstitusyon na nagsasaad: “The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment.”
“Please note the use of the word sole, which means the only body that can try and decide all cases involving impeachment,” aniya.
“The sole power to try and decide necessarily includes the lesser power to promulgate the rules that will govern the trial and decision of impeachment cases,” dagdag pa niya.
Binigyang-diin ni Puno na ang judicial power ng impeachment court ay hindi ipinagkaloob sa ilalim ng Article VIII ng Konstitusyon na sumasaklaw sa kapangyarihan ng Korte Suprema.
“Nowhere does it appear in Article [VIII] that the SC can review the evidence of the parties given in the impeachment court. Nowhere does it appear in Article [VIII] that the SC can review how the Senate impeachment court should decide impeachment cases,” dagdag niya.
Ayon sa retiradong chief justice, nasa mga senator-judge ang desisyon kung babaguhin nila ang bilang ng mga hukom na kailangan para sa conviction.
“In general, all these questions are to be resolved alone by the Senate impeachment court because it is the sole judge to try and decide impeachment cases,” aniya.
Nakasaad sa 1987 Constitution na “no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”
Ayon kay Puno, may dalawang school of thought sa pag-interpret ng constitutional provision. Aniya, ang isa ay sumusunod sa prinsipyong verba legis non est recedendum na nangangahulugang “from the words of the law, there shall be no departure.”
Ngunit sinabi niyang ang isa pang school of thought ay gumagamit ng contextual o holistic approach.
Aniya, ang approach na ito ay nangangailangan ng pag-interpret sa iba pang kaugnay at relevant na probisyon ng konstitusyon para matukoy ang intensyon at layunin ng taumbayan. Ernie Reyes
