Senate tells House: Comply before complain

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, pushed back on Wednesday against criticism from the House prosecution panel, urging the lawmakers to first comply with court procedures before airing their grievances over its rulings.

In a press briefing, Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol denied allegations of “foot dragging” by the senator-judges in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, following the court’s decision to remand the case to the House of Representatives.

According to Tongol, the Senate impeachment court “accomplished more” in one week, citing the convening of the court, the issuance of a summons to Duterte as the respondent, as well as the issuance of orders for compliance to the House of Representatives.

He also highlighted the response of Duterte’s defense team — the notice of appearance ad cautelam — which was received by the Senate on Monday.

“All of these things we accomplished in seven days. When you look at it, there was no foot dragging as has been claimed by the parties,” he said.

“We have been expecting the communication from the House of Representatives and the House prosecutors as to the compliance they have been talking about in the press conferences and media releases they have been doing the past three days, but seven days have passed and there is no such formal notice of compliance filed with the impeachment court,” Tongol said.

In his first appearance on Tuesday as the House prosecution team’s spokesperson, lawyer Antonio Audie Bucoy, said there has been “so much foot dragging” on the part of the Senate impeachment court, which he claimed has caused delays in the impeachment trial.

Tongol, for his part, took a swipe at his counterpart, saying the prosecution panel should shift its energies to accomplishing what needs to be filed before the court.

“This is the first time I have seen litigants question the court and I know the new spokesperson, Attorney Bucoy, is a very experienced litigator,” he said.

“So I suggest that they just expend their energy doing what needs to be done. What needs to be filed, as they say, they will file instead of attacking the credibility of the impeachment court,” he added.

Asked whether the lower chamber should comply with the Senate impeachment court’s order, Tongol said the decision is up to the 20th Congress House members.

“As you can read in the order of the impeachment court, what’s stated there technically isn’t an affirmation or attestation. What it says is simply a communication from the 20th Congress. But how does the 20th Congress officially communicate with the upper house, which is the Senate impeachment court? Of course, it should be through the formal means we’re accustomed to — such as the passage of a resolution,” he said.

“However, it’s up to them how they choose to do it, for example, by filing a signed resolution from a majority of the members of the House. These are the official communications that the impeachment court has been waiting for them to comply with. But of course, we still need to wait for the creation of the 20th Congress, until it is formally constituted,” he said.

To recall, 18 senator-judges outvoted five others — Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Win Gatchalian, and Nancy Binay — in the motion to return the articles to the House.

Senator Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, a known ally of former President Duterte, initially moved to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte. The motion was later amended, based on Senator Bong Go’s proposal, to return the articles to the lower house.

The impeachment court also ordered members of the 20th Congress to express their intent to pursue the case against Duterte — a move widely seen as an attempt by Duterte’s allies to kill the impeachment trial before it gains traction.

Tongol said the Senate impeachment court would not force the House members to comply, stressing that it is “up to them whether or not to comply or not.”

“But again, this is the order of the impeachment court and any lawyer worth his salt and any litigant for that matter should comply first before you complain,” he said.

He also took a swipe at the “inactions” of the House prosecution panel, saying the Senate impeachment court has yet to receive a formal notice of compliance from them.

“As I said, actions speak louder than words. And for us lawyers, evidence carries more weight than words. So let’s focus on the facts — what evidence have they actually presented? Even the simple act of receiving the ordinary notice of appearance from the defense has not been done on their part,” he said.

“If they were truly prepared as early as February, as claimed by the presiding officer who said, ‘What we have to do during this interim time while waiting for the convening of the court is to prepare,’ well, the Senate has already done so. That’s why the defense lawyers were able to file their entry of appearance ad cautelam,” he added.

He continued: “If they were really ready, they should have received it. There should already be an office designated to handle such filings. So it seems that it’s not the impeachment court that’s unprepared.”