BEFORE both chamber of the Congress adjourned its sessions, the Senate, sitting as Impeachment Court ruled to remand or return the Articles of Impeachment to the House of Representatives.
With 18 votes voting in the affirmative and five (5) in the negative, the return was made contingent on two conditions: a certification from the House that the one-year bar rule under Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution was not violated, and a declaration from the incoming 20th Congress expressing its readiness to pursue the case.
For the House prosecutors, the Senate cannot direct the House, being a co-equal branch of the government, to answer the Order of the Senate; but Senate President and Presiding Officer Francis Escudero emphasized that this action was a procedural step and not a dismissal, with the Senate acting as Impeachment Court and the House acting as prosecutors.
For Atty. Christian Monson, a member of the 1987 Constitutional Commission, and for the House panel, the action of the Senate Impeachment Court to remand the Articles of Impeachment is tantamount to dismissal and is unconstitutional. Lawyer Chel Diokno of Akbayan Party-List denounced the remanding and maintained that the act is unconstitutional. Diokno is an identified incoming member of the prosecution panel.
However, retired Supreme Court Justice Adolf Ascuna, also a member of the Constitutional Commission, said that while it is not worded in the constitution that the Articles of Impeachment may be remanded to the house, it is not also specifically worded that it cannot be returned, contrary to the claims of Diokno and other designated would-be prosecutors.
Some lawmakers also claimed that remanding the AOI is tantamount to dismissal of the impeachment, and is therefore illegal, and immoral. Some cleric even called the process as barbaric and or Satanic.
Whatever claims they may have, only one thing is certain in the process. That the impeachment case is not dead and the trial continues. It all depends on who are claiming. But for real, impeachment process is both quasi-judicial and quasi-political exercise. Full impartiality cannot be expected from both the senator-judges and the congressmen-prosecutors. Each and every one are protecting certain interest.|
