MikeLigalig.com

By Marlon Ramos, Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer

Moving swiftly, the Supreme Court Tuesday stopped impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas “Merci” Gutierrez, but the chair of the House justice committee said he would defy the order and warned of a constitutional crisis.

The court, voting 8-3, directed the committee headed by Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr. to observe a status quo ante following Gutierrez’s petition for certiorari and prohibition, which claimed the impeachment cases against her were “capricious and whimsical.”
Supreme Court spokesperson Midas Marquez said that the tribunal’s directive meant that the panel should observe the situation before it decided to give due course to two separate impeachment complaints after finding them sufficient in form and substance.

Marquez said that the court decided to issue an indefinite order for a status quo ante, rather than a temporary restraining order (TRO), because “the act sought to be restrained has not yet been performed.” It gave the committee 10 days to respond to the order.

“We are supreme in our own sphere of influence,” Tupas said in a hastily called news conference, pointing out the legislature is coequal with the judiciary.

He said his committee would proceed with impeachment hearings scheduled on Sept. 28 and 29 and that Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. had been informed of his decision.

In a statement Tuesday night, Belmonte said he had yet to receive the court order. He described the tribunal’s action as “unexpected” and appeared “to infringe” on the constitutional mandate granting the House the “exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment.”

“However, as a courtesy to a coequal branch of government, we shall, in the meantime, abide by the court’s order,” Belmonte said.

He stressed the House would not abdicate its duty. The Constitution, he pointed out, commands the justice committee to report on the impeachment complaint within 60 session days from the time it was referred to the panel.

One case per year

In her petition, Gutierrez said that the committee’s decision to hear two impeachment complaints by leftist and civil society groups simultaneously violated a constitutional provision that specifically allowed the trial of only one case a year against a public official who can only be fired by an action of Congress.

The first complaint was filed against Gutierrez on July 22 for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in connection with the death of a Navy ensign believed to have been murdered, arrests during a 2006 rally and the botched NBN-ZTE deal with China.

The second complaint filed on Aug. 3 cited the Ombudsman’s failure to act promptly on the P729-million fertilizer scam despite Senate findings of anomalous transactions.

“That is the basis for the issuance of the status quo ante order. Those facts alone clearly tell us that there were two impeachment complaints filed within one year,” Marquez said.

Four impeachment complaints were brought in the House against former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Each year, there was always a queue on filing the papers because of the “one complaint per year” rule. The weakest complainants had the first crack at the door, catching the others napping. Arroyo’s dominant allies killed the complaints easily.

Last year, Arroyo allies junked an attempt to impeach Gutierrez for sitting on corruption cases against the then President.

Voting

In Tuesday’s voting, the lone appointee of President Benigno Aquino III, Associate Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, voted against the petition, along with Associate Justices Antonio Carpio and Conchita Carpio-Morales.

Aside from Chief Justice Renato Corona, those who voted for Gutierrez’s motion were Associate Justices Presbiterio Velasco Jr., Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin, Mariano del Castillo, Roberto Abad, Martin Villarama Jr. and Jose Perez—all Arroyo appointees.

Four justices—Antonio Eduardo Nachura, Teresita Leonardo-De Castro, Arturo Brion and Jose Mendoza—were on leave and did not participate.

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