Senator-elect Panfilo "Ping" Lacson rejected the claim of draft resolution traced to the office of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa that the Senate can dismiss the impeachment case against the Vice President Sara Duterte without even holding a trial.
In a statement Friday, June 6, Lacson--a returning senator in the upcoming 20th Congress--insisted that only the Senate--convened as an impeachment court--can render a decision on the matter.
"There is no sense in the draft resolution calling for the de facto dismissal of the impeachment case against Vice President Duterte," Lacson said, referring to the second highest official of the land who was impeached by the House of Representatives back on Feb. 5.
"Only the Senate as an impeachment court can render a decision on the matter, not the Senate as a legislative body, as the latter has no jurisdiction or legal authority to do so," he stressed.
Dela Rosa, an ally of the Duterte family, admitted to being the source of the draft resolution in question.
Under the 1987 Constitution, the Senate must hold an impeachment trial against the impeached official forthwith after receiving the articles of impeachment from the House.
But the draft resolution from Dela Rosa apparently suggests that the Senate plenary can subvert this constitutional mandate--something that the veteran Lacson doesn't agree with.
Lacson says that while it is no longer possible for the impeachment trial to be conducted in the 19th Congress due to lack of time, the Senate as an impeachment court will not be bound by this constraint.
Lacson, in an interview on One News late Thursday, also cited the debates in the Senate last June 2 where Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III referred to the case of Pimentel vs Joint Congressional Hearing in 2004, indicating the Senate as an impeachment court is different from the Senate as a legislative body.
"If they (senators) are not acting as an impeachment court, they have no personality to dismiss the impeachment case. The only entity that can act on an impeachment case properly transmitted by the House is the impeachment court itself," he said.
"In this case, the impeachment court is not yet convened so the Senate is currently acting as a legislative body and I don't think they are authorized to act on an impeachment case transmitted by the House," he added.
When asked if the Senate can act on such a prospective resolution to not convene as an impeachment court, Lacson said, "They can always try but I think the Supreme Court (SC) can strike it down if someone questions the resolution."
"For me, the best way forward is to let the impeachment trial cross over to the 20th Congress because it can no longer be done in the 19th Congress. Going further, the best way forward is to go into trial, to determine if there is a conviction or acquittal," he added.
The current 19th Congress will adjourn sine die on June 11.