Voting 18-5-0, the Senate Impeachment Court has decided to return the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives but “without dismissing or terminating the case.”

Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, acting as the presiding officer of the impeachment court, affirmed the result of the voting on the amendment Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano introduced to the motion made by Sen. Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa.

“The Senate has no intention to dismiss this case but to give the (House) prosecution panel time to answer the questions raised without wasting the time of the court and while the impeachment court has yet to render its judgment,” Escudero said. 

Under the amendment, the House of Representatives would have to certify to the non-violation of Article XI, Section 3, paragraph 5 of the Constitution, which provides that “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year,”; including the circumstances on the filing of the first three (3) impeachment complaints.

The senators also voted to the motion that seeks to ensure that the House of Representatives of the 20th Congress communicate to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment complaint against the Vice President.

Those who voted in favor of such amendment were senators Cayetano, his sister Pia Cayetano, Dela Rosa, Christopher “Bong” Go, Loren Legarda, Raffy Tulfo, Ramon “Bong” Revilla, Jr. Robin Padilla, Imee Marcos, Cynthia Villar, Mark Villar, Joel Villanueva, Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito, Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada, Francis Tolentino, Manuel “Lito” Lapid, Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, and Escudero himself.

Those who voted in the negative were Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, Senators Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay and Sherwin Gatchalian.

With the voting, the scheduled presentation of the Articles of Impeachment by the House Prosecutors on Wednesday, June 11 would no longer push through.

Escudero backtracked on the original plan saying that with the decision to return the Articles of Impeachment to the House, the presentation of the document ‘is already moot and academic.”

Dangerous language 

Pimentel lamented the decision of the impeachment court, noting that the motion clearly contains dangerous language susceptible to a lot of interpretations. 

"Kita naman natin sa explanation of vote ng ating mga kasama, suspend lang pala ang gusto, return ang ginamit. Return na nga ng ginamit, remand ang explanation (As we can see from the explanation of vote of our colleagues, they just wanted to suspend, but used the word 'return'. They used the word 'return' but explained using 'remand')," Pimentel said.

"Ganun kadelikado po ang lenggwahe na ginamit natin. Tapos yung gusto natin maachieve, madali lang yan that's achievable by an advisory (That's how dangerous the language we're using is. What we want to achieve is achievable merely through an advisory)," he added.

He also mentioned that the motion communicates with a body which is not yet in existence, pertaining to the 20th Congress. 

Hontiveros agreed to this and said that the wording of the approved motion introduces unnecessary ambiguity to the already politically-charged proceedings.

"Ang return po ay ‘pasauli’ o ‘pagbalik.’ Sa usapin ng judiciary, nireremand ang kaso pabalik sa lower court for further proceedings," she said. 

"Kaya po I cannot accept this kind of wording. It is dangerous and disingenuous, particularly when the rules of court have suppletory application. The same purpose could have been achieved by merely asking the house prosecutors to file a compliance and clarify certain issues," she added.

In explaining his affirmative vote, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino insisted that it is subject to his qualifying, continuing firm stand that the acts of the 19th Congress’ impeachment trial court cannot be carried over to the 20th Congress. 

Tolentino said also made reference to the number two paragraph of the amended motion of Dela Rosa.

Padilla expressed the same belief, stating that the impeachment cannot be carried over to the next Congress.

Sen.Jinggoy Estrada stated that he voted in favor of remanding the impeachment complaint to the House of Representatives, in full adherence to the provisions laid down in the Constitution. 

"The process clearly begins in the House, and it is only proper that we respect this mandate to ensure fairness, due process, and institutional integrity. However, the process should be strictly done in accordance with the Constitution and applicable laws or procedure," Estrada said.

"I am well aware that impeachment is a political process, not a judicial one. However, even in a political process like impeachment, we must adhere to established procedures to ensure that actions are neither arbitrary or driven solely by political agendas," he added.

Gatchalian, on the other hand, said that his no vote has something to do with transparency. 

Gatchalian said that he hoped that this could have been tackled in "open trial" to give the prosecution and the defense the opportunity since he believes that this will be used by the defense in their proceedings.

In the trial proper, he said that the senator-judges will have the chance to analyze the articles of impeachment.

Poe said that she respects the decision of the majority. She stated that a trial is not equal to sentencing. Like Gatchalian, Poe said that it's better that they hear it straight from the prosecutors.