SC ruling in VP Sara case won’t affect Marcos impeachment proceedings —Luistro

House Justice Committee Chair and Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro on Thursday said the Supreme Court's upholding of its ruling on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment case will not affect the impeachment proceedings against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Luistro, in an online interview, explained that the mode used to file the impeachment complaints against the president is different from the one used against the vice president.

The two impeachment complaints against Marcos were filed by private individuals and endorsed by at least one member of the House of Representatives, and will go through impeachment proceedings before the House Committee on Justice.

The impeachment complaint against Duterte was signed by at least a third of all members of the House of Representatives and was transmitted to the Senate.

"Remember that the decision of the Supreme Court pertains to the rules on the second mode of filing an impeachment complaint, that is via one-third of all the members. While these impeachment complaints against the President was filed under the first mode, na ang complainant natin private individual lang, endorsed by a House member, same as with the second impeachment complaint," Luistro said.

"I don't see any reason why this proceeding before the Justice Committee will not proceed," she added.

Some ground rules

The ground rules for the impeachment proceedings are being drafted right now. But Luistro bared a few of them.

"We will be keeping with the traditional practice of calling first the minority and then the majority, no? And then each member shall be limited to five minutes for questions. And then, if they wish to raise further questions, they will have to be enlisted for the second round," she said.

House Committee on Justice member and Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon also said Thursday that the grouns rules should apply to all impeachable officials.

"I think yung ground rules naman po will be the same for all impeachable officers. I don't want to conjecture po kasi at this point kung meron ng impeachment case against the Vice President dahil we are still under the one-year bar," Ridon said in an online interview.

"I think as a matter of principle, the same ground rules should apply to the President's impeachment and to the Vice President's impeachment proceedings," he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News