SC junks Duterte, Torreon petitions vs House impeachment proceedings

MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court (SC), in an en banc session on Wednesday, August 5, dismissed the consolidated petitions that questioned the House proceedings on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte since these had become moot. Dismissed were petitions filed by Vice President Sara Duterte and Duterte-allied lawyers led by Israelito Torreon. The latter petition had argued that the House committee on justice “exceeded its constitutional authority by gathering evidence and compelling witnesses to appear” in the hearings. They had also questioned the House committee on justice’s findings that the impeachment complaints were “sufficient in form, substance, and grounds." “While the SC recognized that it may, in exceptional cases, decide issues that have become moot, it found that none of the recognized exceptions applied in this case,” the SC said. In a press briefer, the SC said the issues raised “no longer required resolution, because the House had already approved and transmitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.” “As a result, the actions the petitioner sought to stop had already been completed,” it added. In addition, the “SC further held that the impeachment process had already moved to the Senate, which had convened as an impeachment court and had begun proceedings. “Any ruling on the validity of the actions taken by the House and its Committee on Justice would no longer affect the controversy,” the SC said. Last March 25, Torreon and other Duterte-allied lawyers had asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order to block the House’s impeachment proceedings against the Vice President. Duterte, in her petition, argued that the complaints against her were invalid due to the alleged violation of the one-year bar on impeachment, and that the referral of the complaints was invalid since it was only done by the rules committee and not the House as a collective body. The impeachment case against Duterte alleges that she misused confidential funds, amassed unexplained wealth, bribed government officials, and threatened the life of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House speaker Martin Romualdez. – Report from Jairo Bolledo/Rappler.com