House vows to abide by SC ruling on MR for Sara's impeachment

The House of Representatives will abide by the Supreme Court’s decision should it rule against its motion for reconsideration (MR) on its decision to declare the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as unconstitutional.

“Hindi 'ho namin susuwayin ‘yan, susundin namin ‘yan. The House will not cause the constitutional crisis. The reason, the catalyst for the constitutional crisis will never be caused by the House,” House prosecution spokesperson Atty. Antonio Bucoy said at a news forum in Quezon City on Saturday.

House Deputy Speaker Janette Garin, likewise, said the lower chamber will abide by the Supreme Court’s ruling should it stand with its decision to declare Duterte’s impeachment as unconstitutional.

“Definitely, kasi obligasyon namin sa taumbayan tutukan ang mga problema without bypassing accountability and working for whatever is in the interest of the general public,” Garin said.

“A constitutional crisis should not have a place in a… I think the Philippines is in the top 2 happiest people in the world, so talagang hindi siya dapat na mangyari,” she said.

Voting 13-0, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously, deeming that the Articles of Impeachment are barred by the one-year rule under Article XI Section 3 paragraph 5 of the Constitution. Moreover, magistrates ruled that the articles violate the right to due process.

In its appeal before the high tribunal, the House argued that the fourth impeachment complaint, signed off by 215 House members, is the only initiated impeachment case against the Vice President because it met the Constitutional requirement of the complaint being endorsed by at least one-third of the House members, which allowed the House to transmit the Articles of Impeachment straight to the Senate en route to the impeachment trial, bypassing Committee deliberations.

“‘Yung motion for reconsideration ay hindi ho para pagpuna, hindi po ito para itakwil. Ito ay para tawagin ang kanyang pansin upang magsumamo na bisitahin niyong muli ang inyong desisyon na sa palagay namin at inilahad namin sa aming motion for reconsideration ay mali mula letrang A hanggang letrang Z,” Bucoy said.

'Wait and see'

Asked what the House’s next course of action would be should the SC junk its MR, Garin said that “hearing the legal luminaries in the House… klaro sa kanilang pananaw na talagang may basehan ‘yung motion for reconsideration so we put it at that.”

“Let’s wait and see what happens in the next months… I leave it to the members of the 20th Congress… Kasi sa ngayon lahat naguusap usap… These are things that we need to balance and we need to discuss…and come up with concrete statements,” Garin said.

On the Senate’s move to transfer to the archives the articles of impeachment against Duterte, Bucoy said, “Hindi kami susuko na di porke't archived na ay susuko na kami.”

“Meron pang chance na dinggin pa kami. Sinabi nga ni Speaker: ‘The House will not bow down.’ Hindi ho kami sumusuko na sana maliwanagan ang Supreme Court at sana tumugon at sumunod ang Senado,” he said.

Three motions for reconsideration have been filed with the SC against its ruling. 

The first was filed by some of the individuals behind the first impeachment complaint against Duterte, followed by the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives.

The third motion was filed by the 1Sambayan coalition, including Carpio-Morales and Carpio, previously filed a motion for reconsideration with the SC on its ruling. They asked the SC to issue a status quo ante order and to set the case for oral arguments. —VAL, GMA Integrated News