The Supreme Court's (SC) supposed arbitrary creation of new rules in the impeachment process has made it so that impeaching a high-ranking public official--like a president or vice president--is now akin to "passing through the eye of a needle".

Lawyer Antonio Bucoy, spokesperson of the House prosecution team in the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte, had this to say in a press conference Wednesday, Aug. 6.

It was the first time that Bucoy made public comments on the SC's decision late last month to void the House-initiated impeachment complaint and articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte for being unconstitutional.

“Sa nangyari po, sa desisyon ng [SC]--at ito po ay ayon sa aming motion for [reconsideration]--may mga isinusog na requirements na lalong nagpahirap sa impeachment. Dadaan ka ngayon sa butas ng karayom para mapanagot ang nagkasalang public official,” he told reporters.

(What happened was, in the SCs decision--and this is in response to our motion for reconsideration—additional requirements were imposed that made impeachment process even more difficult. Now you have to pass through the eye of a needle to hold a guilty public official accountable.)

Included in the high court’s ruling, according to Bucoy, were requirements in the impeachment process that made the process needlessly and unjustifiably more complex.

Perhaps more worrisome for the prosecution panel spokesman is the fact that these requirements are not spelled out in the 1987 Constitution.

“Ang impeachment po ay simple pero sagradong proseso. Ang ating Konstitusyon--ating Saligang Batas--hindi mo kailangan ng abogado para maintindihan nito. Plain language ‘yan. Napakasimple. Kahit ‘di abogado, maintindihan mo ‘yan,” Bucoy said.

(Impeachment is a simple but sacred process. Our Constitution--our fundamental law--you don’t need a lawyer to understand it. It’s written in plain language. Very simple. Even if you’re not a lawyer, you can understand it.)

The House of Representatives lodged seven articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte. These include the alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.

Among the new procedural burdens imposed by the SC is the requirement for the House to conduct collective deliberation or plenary debate before transmitting an impeachment complaint to the Senate.

Bucoy noted that the decision also requires all pieces of evidence to be attached to the complaint and distributed to every member of the House.

Moreover, Bucoy disagreed with the SC's claim that Vice President Duterte wasn't accorded due process. He says the Charter's due process mechanism is the Senate impeachment trial itself--something that has yet to be carried out.

The House submitted the impeachment complaint to the Senate last Feb. 5--over six months ago. It's the upper chamber's mandate to try and decide in an impeachment case.

According to the lawyer-spokesperson, the SC ruling goes against the plain language of the 1987 Constitution and could discourage legitimate efforts to hold powerful officials accountable.

“Sad to say, ‘yung accountability po nawalan ng ngipin kung susundin natin ang naging decision ng [SC] (Sad to say, accountability has lost its teeth if we follow the SC decision)," he said.

“Hindi po [katanggap-tanggap] kasi public office is a public trust. Number one ‘yan na prinsipyo. Hindi prebilehiyo na umupo ka diyan. Kaya nga they are servants of the people,” he said, referring to impeachable officials," Bucoy said.

(That is unacceptable because public office is a public trust. That’s the number one principle. Sitting in that position is not a privilege. That’s why they are servants of the people.)

Bucoy underscored that impeachment is not designed to protect powerful individuals, but to safeguard the broader public interest.

“‘Yan ang purpose ng impeachment (That is the purpose of impeachment)—to protect the body politic, not to protect the impeachable officer. It is to protect the body politic, ang sambayanan (the nation),” he said.