The alarmists and the yellow mob instigators were caught spreading malice to stir up public outrage over the Senate court’s remanding of the impeachment complaint.

On 10 June, the Senate, acting as an impeachment court, voted to send the articles of impeachment back to the House of Representatives.

The primary reason cited was to allow the House to address supposed “constitutional infirmities” in the impeachment complaint, explicitly whether the complaint violated the Constitution’s one-year bar on filing more than one impeachment complaint against an official.

The motion, backed by 18 senators, aimed to have the House certify that the impeachment process adhered to constitutional requirements.

Immediately, yellow-hued personalities and those seeking to discredit the process protested, claiming the move was intended to undermine the effort to remove Vice President Sara Duterte.

Former Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna debunked the narrative being peddled by the destabilizers, which is that the Senate was moving to end the impeachment process. On the contrary, the step taken ensures a smooth transition to a trial in the 20th Congress.

While the Supreme Court is the final arbiter and interpreter of the Constitution, other bodies can interpret it in the course of their duties.

The Senate can review the Basic Law and see that remanding the impeachment complaint to the House of Representatives is not unconstitutional.

The referral of the articles of impeachment back to the House of Representatives is a unique but allowable mechanism, according to Azcuna.

The constitutional law expert indicated that the Senate act ensures that the trial will cross over to the 20th Congress.

“What is important is that the impeachment court has been convened and has acquired jurisdiction over the case and that it continues,” he said. “It has not been dismissed or terminated.”

What transpired was an assurance that the case would pass from the 19th to the 20th Congress. The articles of impeachment were returned so the 20th Congress can send them back to the impeachment court.

“It thereby accomplishes a crossover of the case” between the sessions of Congress.

Azcuna indicated that the move provided a bridge between the two Congresses, as the impeachment court is caught in an unprecedented situation where the proceedings straddle two legislative sessions.

“It’s a very allowable way of ensuring the passage of the case from one Congress to another,” he explained.

The reaction of those uninitiated in court procedures is understandable since it is a new measure resorted to in an impeachment process.

It is essential that the members of the 19th and 20th Congresses of both chambers participate in a dialogue.

Azcuna said the trial interregnum was also done to wait for the new members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

What the impeachment court wants to know is if the House members of the 20th Congress would be willing to prosecute the case.

“That cannot be answered now, we have to wait for the 20th Congress,” Azcuna said. “The referral requires the 20th Congress to say that it is willing to prosecute.”

Reading between the lines, the impeachment court has tossed the ball back to the House, which will have a different composition in the next Congress, meaning the whole process will return to square one.