House panel to invite Marcos to impeachment hearing if complaint sufficient

The House committee on justice will invite President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. to attend the impeachment hearing against him only if the panel finds the complaint sufficient in form and substance.

Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro, House justice panel chairperson, said the two complaints will be consolidated first before her 38-strong committee will evaluate if it is sufficient in form and substance.

“Before we start, the complaints need to be consolidated because it is not possible for two complaints to be heard in the Justice committee. Upon referral, there will be consolidation [of the complaints] during the initial hearing next week," she said.

The lawmaker said sufficiency in form means the complaint must be signed, verified and endorsed by a House member while sufficiency in substance means the allegations of facts should be able to substantiate the grounds for impeachment under which the complaint is anchored.

The House plenary on Monday referred the two impeachment complaints to the panel. 

“Since the first…the initial steps of this process will be determination of sufficiency in form and substance, [these] parts of the proceedings will be participated by committee members only. As a matter of fact, ay wala pa po tayong iimbitahan na neither complainant nor witness nor the respondent,” Luistro said.

She said once the House justice panel finds the impeachment complaint sufficient in form and substance, then that is the time that the complainants and the respondent, in this case the President, will be invited to the impeachment hearings.

“During the hearing proper, complainants, witnesses, and respondents will be invited. What if the respondent does not show up? It is actually his prerogative whether or not to come," Luistro said.

“Because just like any other respondent, this participation [by the respondent] during the hearing is part of his or her right to due process. If he chooses not to come, that will be interpreted as a waiver of his right to be present during the hearing,” she added.

Luistro, however, said there is also a possibility that the President won’t need to appear if the House panel finds the complaint insufficient either in form or substance.

“We won’t proceed to the succeeding step if the complaint does not meet the standard of sufficiency in form and substance,” the lawmaker said.

The complaints were:

• filed by lawyer Andre de Jesus and endorsed by Pusong Pinoy party-list Rep. alleging that the President should be impeached due to betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution, among others, for ordering and enabling the kidnapping and surrender of ex-President Rodrigo Duterte to the International Criminal Court (ICC), being a drug addict whose condition impairs his judgment and leadership, failing to veto unprogrammed appropriations and other unconstitutional provisions of the national budget for 2023, 2024, 2025, and 2026, among others and
• filed by Makabayan coalition endorsed by party-list opposition lawmakers Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers, Sarah Elago of Gabriela and Renee Co of Kabataan party-list, alleging that the President committed betrayal of public trust over the adoption of the Baselined-Balanced-Managed (BBM) Parametric Formula in allocating infrastructure projects that allegedly led to "ghost", substandard, and overpriced flood management projects, among others 

Once the complaint is found sufficient in form and substance and the testimonies of both parties have already been heard, Luistro said the House justice panel will next determine if there is probable cause for impeaching the President.

She said this standard of probable cause requires airtight evidence on the part of the complainants.

“One of the requirements for verification of the complaint is that the allegations must be based on personal knowledge. And if not personal knowledge, it should be based on authentic records,” Luistro said.

Lastly, the lawmaker assured the public that the House justice panel will be fair and impartial in deciding on impeachment complaints against the President.

Luistro made the statement since Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III earlier said that the impeachment complaint filed against the President by lawyer De Jesus has no basis.

“With all due respect to Speaker Bojie, I am expecting the entire Justice Committee to act with at most independence and impartiality,” she said.

“Regardless of the pronouncement of the Speaker, the members of the House are expected to evaluate, assess, and hear the impeachment complaint with utmost independence and impartiality,” Luistro added.—AOL, GMA Integrated News