VP Binay cannot be impeached for acts allegedly done while Makati mayor – experts

Vice President Jejomar Binay cannot be impeached over the Makati overpricing controversy because it involves acts he allegedly committed while still Makati City mayor.

 

This was according to legal experts Tranquil Salvador III, a defense lawyer in the impeachment case against former Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012; and former Integrated Bar of the Philippines national president Vicente Joyas. 

 

"I don't think the overpricing charges can be used to impeach Binay as vice president. It should be grounds arising out of or in connection with his present office," said Salvador, who teaches law in Ateneo and UP.

 

Agreeing with Salvador, Joyas said the charges connected to the supposed overpricing of several government buildings in Makati does not even fall under the grounds for impeachment.

 

"The grounds for impeachment are betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, among others," the former IBP head told justice reporters on Monday.

 

"That [charge over Makati overpricing deals] is not betrayal of public trust because he was re-elected several times and his re-election and election of his son, daughters and wife negated whatever betrayal may be alluded to," said Joyas.

 

Salvador, meanwhile, said there is still "no definitive definition" of betrayal of public trust or culpable violation of the 1987 Philippine Constitution.

 

"We will have to refer to past impeachment cases which are scanty or very few in our jurisdiction," said Salvador, a former law dean of the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Pasay and former president of the IBP Quezon City chapter.

 

Salvador said a review of US cases and experience on impeachment "may be informative."

 

For his part, Joyas argued that Binay cannot be slapped with criminal charges, anyway, while he still sits as the second highest official of the land.

 

"Binay cannot be sued criminally during his incumbency as vice president even for acts committed while he was mayor. He must be impeached first," he said.

Impeach before filing cases

 

Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago had earlier said she thinks Binay can be impeached for acts done in the past, adding, "the question of impeachment should have nothing to do with when the crime was committed."

 

Fr. Ranhilio Aquino, dean of the San Beda School of Law, has said that while Binay and even President Benigno Aquino III can be charged criminally or administratively, it must be done so only after impeachment.

 

"All officials who commit crimes while in office may be prosecuted, tried and sentenced, provided that they are first removed from office by impeachment, unless one is wiling to wait for their terms to be expire," Aquino earlier said in a commentary on GMA News Online.

 

Apart from Binay, other officials considered impeachable under Section 2, Article XI of the Philippine Constitution are the President, members of the Supreme Court, members of constitutional commission and the ombudsman.

 

Both Fr. Aquino and Joyas cited the 1988 Supreme Court en banc resolution on "In re: First Indorsement from Hon. Raul Gonzalez Dated 16 March 1988 Requesting Honorable Justice Marcelo B. Fernan to Comment on an Anonymous Letter-Complaint." 

 

In the resolution, the SC said that while it was not saying that impeachable officials enjoy immunity from suits, "there is a fundamental procedural requirement that must be observed before such liability may be determined and enforced," which the SC said is through impeachment.

 

Only after an impeachable official's termination by impeachment can he or she be held to answer criminal or administrative liability for any wrongdoing or misbehavior, the SC added.

 

Referring to the 1988 SC ruling, Joyas said: "In the case of In Re Gonzales, the SC said that if acquitted in the impeachment, the criminal case may not prosper."

 

Aquino meanwhile said sending an impeachable official to prison or penalizing him by suspension or dismissal during their incumbency would be "by-passing the impeachment process, which certainly is not what the constitution intends."

 

Aquino said there are only two options for critics of impeachable officials like Binay: Either lobby Congress to start impeachment proceedings against them, or just wait for their terms to end before filing charges against them.

 

Justice Secretary Leila de Lima last week admitted that impeachable officials like Binay are not automatically not immune from suits.

 

De Lima said the Constitution is not clear and "categorical to what extent they [impeachable officials] may be subject to prosecutorial action without their impeachability being affected." 

 

"The conventional wisdom among lawyers is that any criminal action against an impeachable official can only go so far as filing an information," said De Lima.

 

"But it is still up to the courts, especially the Supreme Court, to categorically decide on whether or not the filing of a criminal charge amounts to a violation of impeachability," she added. — JDS, GMA News