The Impeachment Process

Section 1, Article XI of the 1987 Constitution declares that Public office is a public trust. Public officers and employees must at all times be accountable to the people, serve them with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice, and lead modest lives. These words echo loud and clear today as our countrys leaders find themselves at the brink of conducting this constitutional process. Impeachment has been defined as a national inquest into the conduct of public men. It is a necessary safeguard to ensure that public officers have the moral fitness and integrity to fulfill their mandate. The provisions on impeachment are enshrined in Article XI of the 1987 Constitution. WHO MAY BE IMPEACHED Under the Constitution only the following public officers may be impeached: The President, Vice-President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions, and the Ombudsman. This list of officers is exclusive. All other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment. GROUNDS FOR IMPEACHMENT The grounds for impeachment are: culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust. These grounds are exclusive and offenses not falling within these parameters shall not be sufficient for impeachment purposes. PROCESS AT THE HOUSE The process begins at the House of Representatives, which has the exclusive power to initiate all cases of impeachment. A verified complaint must be filed by either a Member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution of endorsement by any Member thereof. Once the verified complaint has been filed it shall be included in the Order of Business within ten session days, and referred to the proper Committee within three session days thereafter. The Committee, after hearing, and by a majority vote of all its Members, shall submit its report to the House within sixty session days from such referral, together with the corresponding resolution. The resolution shall be calendared for consideration by the House within ten session days from receipt thereof. In the committee hearings, a vote of at least one-third of all the Members of the House shall be necessary either to affirm a favorable resolution with the Articles of Impeachment of the Committee, or override its contrary resolution. The vote of each Member shall be recorded. If however, the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed. TRIAL AT THE SENATE The Senate has the sole power of sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall be on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Philippines is on trial, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, but shall not vote. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate. CONSEQUENCES OF CONVICTION The person impeached shall be removed from office and shall be disqualified to hold any office under the Republic of the Philippines, but the party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and punishment according to law. It is clear that the liability does not end at the Senate, the person impeached shall also be held for appropriate action as a result of his illegal and improper acts. In addition, a limitation is set where no impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.

Galling
Philippine Daily Inquirer 1:00 am | Wednesday, October 9th, 2013

What did they lose? President Aquinos spokesperson Edwin Lacierda is correct to challenge 27 recalcitrant Customs collectors with that question. The collectorsnamed in reports as Rogel Gatchalian, Carlos So, Eduard de la Cuesta, Ricardo Belmonte, Adelina Molina, Ronnie Silvestre, Macabantug Mandangan, Priscilla Bauzon, Imelda Cruz, Ma. Sonia Togonon, Lilibeth Sandag, Raymond Ventura, Teresita Roque, Ma. Liza Torres, Maritess Martin, Arnel Alcaraz, Tomas Alcid, Ma. Lourdes Mangaoang, Francis Agustin Erpe, Rogelio Villagracia, Marieta Zamoranos, Juan Tan, Carmelita Talusan, Arefiles Carreon, Rustum Pacardo, Romalino Valdez, and Talek Pablowere being transferred to the Department of Finances Customs Policy Research Office, which was created by Executive Order No. 140 to review tariff and customs administration policies. But apparently, such is the collectors fidelity to their jobs that 15 of them petitioned the Manila Regional Trial Court to issue a temporary restraining order on their transferand got it. The petitioners contention was that the transfer order lacked due process and violated their statutory and constitutional right to security of tenure. The court initially issued a 72-hour TRO, which it subsequently extended by 17 days. The primordial question that needed answer at this point in time is whether or not petitioners will suffer irreparable damage from the implementation of the Customs Personnel Order, the court said. Irreparable damage? But exactly what are the customs personnel being ordered to do? They are being reassigned to a new office to do mental workresearch and policy formulation. The transfer, it was made clear, involved no demotion in rank or reduction in salary. As Lacierda pointed out, You did not lose your status, you did not lose your rank, you were not demoted. So what did you lose? Why will you file a case?

Indeed, what would motivate government bureaucrats to defy a simple administrative order giving them new responsibilities? Perhaps only the terrifying prospect of losing more than their desks in their old offices, where they have held petty court all these years. The Bureau of Customs being what it is, by all accounts among the most corrupt agencies of the government, its fairly easy to speculate on the potential irreparable damage to themselves these collectors are protesting against. They stand to lose the lucrative nature of their positions. The transfer will deprive them of some very tangible rewards they may have grown accustomed to in their work. Take the case of Mangaoang, one of 15 senior collectors in Cebus customs office and among those granted a reprieve by the court from being transferred to the Customs Policy Research Office. Per reports, Mangaoang reclaimed her post as Cebu deputy collector for assessment and, inexplicably, also tried to assume the post of acting customs collector in the Cebu district. The woman desisted from pursuing what she wanted only after she was presented a copy of an order by Customs Commissioner Ruffy Biazon designating another lawyer and career officer as acting Cebu customs collector. In his State of the Nation address last June, President Aquino excoriated the Bureau of Customs for the brazen, unabated corruption in its ranks. Where do they get the gall? he said. That question bears repeating in the wake of the shameless behavior being exhibited by these customs collectors. Selfrespecting peopleespecially in an agency as disreputable in the public estimation as Customswould welcome the chance to prove that they have no undue interest in their position. Customs employees themselves had lamented the Presidents disparagement of their organization. Unfair, they cried in a statement, saying that not all of them are rotten and that they work hard at their jobs. Where are these employees now, and why arent they assailing the refusal of their colleagues to give up apparently too-good-to-lose positions? Five district collectors who did not join the 15 petitioners are said to have complied with their reassignments and are now reporting for work at the Customs Policy Research Office. Bully for them. And the bureau now has five new deputy collectors whom Biazon has touted as up to the task and up to the challenge of cleaning up the seeming equivalent of the Augean stables. Should we hold our breath? Lets see them get cracking.