THE House prosecution on Friday welcomed the Senate impeachment court’s decision to seek the views of four former Supreme Court justices on the conviction threshold in Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s trial, saying their expertise could help clarify the Constitution’s two-thirds requirement.
“I think three things po: first, credibility, expertise, and integrity,” House prosecution spokesperson Lanao del Sur Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong said during a press briefing at the House of Representatives.
The impeachment court has invited former Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban, Renato Puno and Hilario Davide Jr., as well as retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, to serve as amici curiae, or friends of the court.
Alonto Adiong described the four former magistrates as “perfect experts,” noting that Davide and Azcuna were members of the 1986 Constitutional Commission that drafted the 1987 Constitution.
He said their legal expertise and, in the case of Davide and Azcuna, firsthand knowledge of the constitutional deliberations could help clarify the framers’ intent behind the two-thirds requirement.
House prosecution team adviser and spokesperson former Rep. Ace Barbers likewise welcomed the move, saying differing legal views on the threshold, including questions raised by senator-judges themselves, prompted the court to seek outside guidance.
“Kasi maraming mga schools of thought na lumalabas, at isa diyan ’yung mga tanong mula mismo sa ating senator-judges na tinatanong nila, ano ba ’yung final dito?” Barbers said.
“And that is precisely the reason, and perhaps the response of the court, to invite these friends of the court to share with them the opinions with respect to the threshold,” he added.
Alonto Adiong stressed that the amici’s opinions are primarily intended to guide the impeachment court rather than determine the prosecution’s own interpretation.
“Definitely that would be used as a guidance for the impeachment court, not so much on the interpretation of the prosecution panel. It’s for the impeachment court,” he said.
For now, the prosecution continues to abide by the earlier ruling of Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero that 16 votes constitute two-thirds of the 24-member Senate.
“Sa madaling sabi, we stick with the decision and the ruling of the Presiding Officer on day one when he said na 16 is the two-thirds of 24,” Barbers said.
“Ang stand ng prosecution ay 16, as we speak.”
Alonto Adiong said the threshold issue arose because some senators themselves wanted to revisit the interpretation of the constitutional provision.
“The senators themselves, some of them, were actually wanting to revisit and reinterpret the two-thirds constitutional provision,” he said.
Barbers added that the amici’s opinions would not necessarily foreclose eventual Supreme Court involvement if an actual constitutional controversy arises.
“No. The issue can well just be raised before the Supreme Court if there is already a controversy,” he said.
The amici curiae are scheduled to appear before the Senate impeachment court on Sept. 23. (
metrosundaily
