Carpio’s 20-day formula

The proposal of former Senate president Frank Drilon for President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to call a special session for the Senate to convene as an impeachment court to try Vice President Sara Duterte will be problematic, a retired magistrate warned.

“He will be contradicting himself,” former Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said if President Marcos heeds the call of Drilon.

On several occasions, Mr. Marcos said that impeaching Duterte during this period was a waste of Congress’ time. “He should have a legitimate reason for calling a special session,” Carpio held.

Moreover, Carpio said the Executive has no role in the impeachment since under the Constitution, it is the House of Representatives that has the exclusive power to initiate impeachment proceedings while the Senate has the sole power to try and decide impeachment cases.

Carpio said, “The Executive has no part in the process. If on his own President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will call a special session to convene the impeachment court, he is now taking a role.”

Nonetheless, he presented a win-win formula for Mr. Marcos.

“He might as well call a special session for a very valid reason, which is for Congress to enact a supplemental budget to correct the errors in the 2025 General Appropriations Act,” according to Carpio.

The special session will be appropriate for restoring the budget of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth), particularly the P74.4-billion subsidy; returning the P12-billion fund for the computerization of the Department of Education; and reapplying the Armed Forces of the Philippines allocation for modernization, that’s P15 billion.

“To quiet down the public uproar, he can realign the congressional insertions of P289 billion, which are all pork barrel, that were not vetoed.”

The funds that will be restored will be obtained from the realigned pork barrel, Carpio said.

Then the President can call a special session for 20 days, and the Senate can organize the impeachment court.

The respondent in the impeachment complaint, under the Constitution, should be given 10 days to reply so the trial can’t start right away.

During those 10 days, the Senate could amend its impeachment rules to allow judicial affidavits to cover the direct examination and cut down the trial work by 60 to 70 percent.

So the trial can proceed quickly to the cross-examination of witnesses and be possibly done in 10 calendar days.

Carpio said the Senate court can complete the proceedings by the end of February under his formula and thus limit the effects of the political process that is expected to be very divisive.

“The reelectionists can still have March and April to campaign,” he explained.

A crucial factor in his proposal, according to Carpio, is that at least 16 votes from the senator judges are needed to convict VP Duterte. “If they don’t have the numbers, she will be acquitted.”

Carpio stated that the 19th Congress has a window to complete the impeachment process, which requires initiating proceedings in February.

“It cannot be on 2 June since the legislature would have only until 13 June when they again take a break to prepare for the opening of the new Congress,” he added.

The tipping point, however, is the mood of the senators, particularly the reelectionists. Speeding up the trial of VP Duterte would force them to expose their cards before the polls.

The unwillingness to compromise their votes will undoubtedly hinder Carpio’s political strategy to mitigate the divisive impact of the impeachment process.