MANILA, Philippines - The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is turning out to be a blessing in disguise for his Supreme Court colleague, Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo, who is facing animpeachment case before the House of Representatives for alleged plagiarism.
Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., who chairs the justice committee hearing Del Castillo’s case, said yesterday the House would have to focus on prosecuting Corona when his Senate trial begins, and abandon theimpeachment proceedings against Del Castillo.
“It would not be possible for us to pursue two impeachment cases at the same time. We will have to concentrate on prosecuting the Chief Justice and drop the other case,” he said.
Tupas heads the House prosecution team in the Corona trial. At least three committee vice chairmen are prosecutors. They are Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte, Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental and Miro Quimbo of Marikina.
“Since we will be preoccupied with our new task as prosecutors in the trial of the Chief Justice, we will have no time to convene the committee to pursue the Del Castillo impeachment,” Tupas said.
He said what complicates matters is the fact that the committee is running out of time to complete its task in the Del Castillo case within the remaining time allotted to it.
The panel has only a few more session days to dispose of the case and submit its report to the House.
Last Dec. 7, the Tupas committee voted 40-7 to declare the complaint against Del Castillo sufficient in substance. Tupas then gave the associate justice 10 days to submit an answer.
He told the committee then that it had already used up 50 session days of its 60-session-day deadline. That was before this week’s sessions.
For Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, the committee on justice has already run out of time to pursue the Del Castillo case.
He said a session day is counted when he and his colleagues convene as scheduled, from Monday through Wednesday, in accordance with their legislative calendar.
“When we convene on a particular day pursuant to our calendar, that is counted as one session day, whether or not there is a roll call, a quorum is established or the session is adjourned or merely suspended. I think the 60-day deadline for the committee to submit a report to the plenary has long lapsed,” he said.
The 60 session days are counted from the day the House sends a complaint to its committee on justice. The Del Castillo case was referred to the committee last Feb. 2.
Since then up to yesterday, there were at least 90 days that Congress was supposed to be in session based on its work calendar. It was in session Jan. 17 to March 25, May 9 to June 9, July 25 to Oct. 14. Its last session for the year is from Nov. 14 to Dec. 16.
Speaker’s call
Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. rallied his House colleagues to rise above partisan politics and immerse themselves in urgent legislative work following their impeachment of Corona.
Belmonte made the call in his speech at the closing of the session Wednesday for the Christmas break. The House has already approved on third and final reading a total of 46 national bills since the start of the second regular session of Congress in July.
He said lawmakers have differing views on Corona’s impeachment but stressed that “statesmanship amidst intense partisan pressure” should prevail.
He said that while undertaking reform is not easy, House members must remain steadfast and focused on deliberating on vital measures and on approving important socio-economic and anti-corruption bills.
“Undoubtedly, we are navigating a stormy sea in our voyage towards rebuilding our nation and our institutions. Overcoming this tempest requires from each of us a matured and disciplined engagement, for us to canalize our differences in affiliation and ideology within the means and processes provided for in the Constitution,” Belmonte said.
“Our performance in the past year and a half inspire confidence that we, individually as representatives of our constituents and collectively as members of this institution, can be relied on to uphold our statesmanship amidst intense partisan pressure; that we will never let our differences in opinion and beliefs enfeeble our drive to fulfill our common duty and remain loyal to the Filipino people and nation,” he said.
He reported the House has so far passed nine Republic Acts in the first half of the second regular session, and ratified two bicameral reports, including the P1.8-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2012.
From July to December, the House has passed on third reading 46 national bills, 205 local bills and two Joint Resolutions. The chamber also adopted three Concurrent Resolutions, 76 Regular Resolutions and 48 Reports on Resolutions on Inquiries, the Speaker said.
He said since the opening of the 15th Congress and until Dec. 7, 2011, the House has acted on 2,328 measures.
“This accomplishment is the result of our hard work and perseverance – of our deputy speakers, majority and minority leaders, committee chairmen and members, and every Honorable man and woman of this chamber. It was achieved notwithstanding a healthy difference in our opinions and vigorous debate in our committees, in the plenary, and in the public at large,” he said. With Paolo Romero
