Deputy Speaker Antipolo City 1st district Rep. Ronaldo "Ronnie" Puno wants to replace the word "forthwith" in the constitutional process of impeachment with a specific number of days in order to avoid a repeat of the deadlock seen in impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Puno had this to say in a press conference Tuesday, Aug. 12 as he expounded on the National Unity Party's (NUP) proposal for a constitutional convention (Concon) to ammend "ambiguous" parts of the Charter.

"Alam niyo sa proseso ng hudikatura, kadalasan may mga specific names period na sinasabi (You know, in judicial processes, there are usually specific time periods mentioned)," Puno said.

"Magfa-file ka ng kaso, you have to answer within whatever, seven days, 10 days of the filing. Normally nakalagay kung ilang araw. Yung 'forthwith' kasi walang araw yun eh (When you file a case, you have to respond within, whatever, seven days, 10 days from the filing. Normally, it states how many days. But the term 'forthwith' doesn’t specify a number of days)," he noted.

"Ilagay na natin yung mga period, parang katulad ng kahit anumang proseso sa husgado, di ba? Lagyan natin ng araw. 'Pagka nag-file yung Congress dito, kailangan within seven days mag-uumpisa na yung hearings.' Ganun," Puno said.

(Let’s include those time periods, just like in any court process, right? Let’s put a number of days. 'If Congress files something here, then the hearings should begin within seven days.' Like that.)

The deputy speaker said that a provision mentioning seven days would be more clear.

"Ang problema kasi, maraming mga salita sa ating Saligang Batas na hindi sinasabi talaga kung ano ang specific na ibig nilang sabihin (The problem is, there are many words in our Constitution that don’t really specify what they exactly mean)."

The 1987 Constitution says an impeachment trial must be carried out "forthwith" once the Senate receives the articles of impeachment. Forthwith means "immediately".

However, the Senate infamously took months before acting on the House-initiated impeachment complaint. The Supreme Court (SC) ultimately declared the complaint unconstitutional, although the House challenged this ruling.

In seeking a Concon to tweak this and similar parts of the Constitution, Puno rued how the discourse revolved on the technicalities of the process and not on the guilt or innocence of the impeachable officer.

Puno clarified that his mention of a seven-day period was merely an example. "That's just an example because when you go to specific proposals and periods like that, there are so many factors that you need to consider."

"Although in our jurisprudence and in all of our laws today, there are periods required for specific judicial processes, I think we can go to those and be guided by those because those are based on experience and history," he said.