Villanueva: Archived complaint means death of Sara's impeachment

Senate Chairperson of the Committee on Rules and Majority Floor Leader Joel Villanueva said the archived impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is deemed dead and would be difficult to revive, at least for this year.

The Senate on Wednesday archived the articles of impeachment against Duterte amid the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives at the Supreme Court, questioning its ruling that the impeachment complaints against Duterte were unconstitutional.

After more than six hours of grueling deliberation, 19 Senate lawmakers voted ‘Yes’ to archive, while Senators Bam Aquino, Riza Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, and Vicente Sotto III voted not to keep on record the impeachment rap, with Lacson abstaining to cast his vote.

“Wala akong naisip na inarchive na dinala pa ulit sa plenaryo. So, lahat ng mga inarchive wala na yan. But remember during deliberation, lahat halos nagsabi na, whether it is possible or impossible for the Supreme Court to reverse their decision, then we will act on it,” he said in an ambush interview, Wednesday night.

He said he came up with a decision to say Yes in archiving the impeachment complaint as he is respecting the decision of the SC that the Senate has no jurisdiction.

“Why are you convening the Impeachment Court when you don’t have the jurisdiction? So, you violated the SC already. There are precedents to the case. Our move here in the Senate is anchored in our Constitution and fair process,” he said.

In a 13-0-2 decision last 25 July, the Supreme Court En Banc declared the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte unconstitutional, noting that it is barred by the one-year rule under Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution and that it violates the right to due process enshrined in the Bill of Rights.

The High Court also ruled that the impeachment court, or the Senate, did not acquire jurisdiction.

The other way around

Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader, Senator Tito Sotto III questioned the 19 lawmakers who voted Yes on why they archived the Impeachment Complaint if the SC ruled that the Senate has no jurisdiction over the impeachment complaint.

“Kala ko ba wala kaming jurisdiction, so why are they archiving something? So, what’s the meaning of that? When you archive a complaint, mahirap nang bunutin yun basta majority ang approval, mahirap nang kunin sa archive,” Sotto told reporters.

He said tabling is more feasible, so Senate lawmakers can easily pull out the complaint when the SC finally decides on the fate of the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives.

“If the Supreme Court ruled that they would rectify their decision, then we would file a motion,” he said, adding that he will not comment anymore on the manner of the voting procedure so that no lawmaker’s ego will be hurt.

For her part, Senator Risa Hontiveros explained the difference between tabling and archiving.

“Kung tinable na lamang ayon sa motion ni Minority Leader Tito Sotto, madaling pag mag-decision man ng Korte Suprema na ituloy na yung impeachment trial, basta itutuloy na lang namin. Wala nang mahirap na botong kailangan gagawin,” she said in a radio interview on Thursday.

“Yung mamamayan talaga na umaasa ng accountability sa aming mga nagtatrabaho sa gobyerno. Kaya nga't may impeachment tayo sa Konstitusyon para singilin yun sa pinakamataas na opisyal. Well, sa pagpapatuloy ng aming legislative duties, susubukan pa rin naming bigyan ng linaw yung mga kaugnay na issue na nandun dapat sana sa didinigin na Articles of Impeachment,” she added.