Complaint Signature Court Impeachment House of Representatives Philippines

Impeachment in the Philippines is an expressed ability of the Congress of the Philippines to formally charge a serving government official with an impeachable criminal offence. After being impeached by the Business firm of Representatives, the official is so tried in the Senate. If bedevilled, the official is either removed from part or censured.

Impeachment followed by conviction is often the only way to forcibly remove a sitting official. While "impeachment" is often used to refer to the entire process of removing an official from office, it only formally refers to the indictment stage in the Firm of Representatives, non the trial stage in the Senate. Under the current Constitution, an official tin can be impeached if 1 third of the House of Representatives votes in favor. Since information technology takes only a simple majority to set the agenda or to curb the House, information technology can be hard for a minority of 1 3rd to bring a vote and impeach an official.

History [edit]

Third Republic [edit]

President Elpidio Quirino was defendant in 1949 of using government fund to renovate Malacañang Palace, using authorities funds to purchase furniture for the Presidential Palace and linking him to alleged diamond smuggling. A Congressional commission rejected this complaint for lack of factual and legal basis.

In 1964, President Diosdado Macapagal was defendant of illegally importing rice to build public support in an election, illegally dismissing officials, using the armed forces to intimidate the political opposition, and ordering the displacement of an American businessman who was in the custody of Congress in violation of the separation of governmental powers. A Congressional commission dismissed all the charges.

4th and 5th Democracy [edit]

President Ferdinand Marcos was defendant by 56 lawmakers on 1985 of graft, economical plunder, unexplained wealth, granting monopolies to cronies, and other crimes. the following day the National Assembly commission dismissed the complaints after roughly five hours of discussions for continuing unsupported conclusions.

President Corazon Aquino was accused by lawmakers in 1988 of graft and violating the Constitution. The charges were rejected the following month due to lack of testify.

President Joseph Estrada was defendant of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution during the impeachment of 2000, to make up one's mind the accusations, the House of Representatives choose 11 members to act every bit prosecutors with the Senate as the impeachment court and the senators as judges. On November 13, 2000, so-Business firm Speaker Manny Villar sent the manufactures of impeachment to the Senate for trial.

The impeachment trial started on December vii, 2000, which was presided by then-Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. simply was aborted on January sixteen, 2001, after the House private prosecutors walked out from the impeachment proceedings, to protest confronting the perceived dictatorial trend of the 11 senator-judges, who supported President Estrada. The walkout led to Second EDSA Revolution and the downfall of President Estrada.

President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was accused in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 impeachment complaints for dissimilar imputations, specially attempting lying, adulterous and stealing during 2004 presidential election against opposition candidate Fernando Poe, Jr. However all impeachment cases were failed due to absenteeism of 1 tertiary vote from the members of Congress.

President Benigno Aquino III was charged in 2014, of four impeachment complaints, in relations to the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP) which was declared by the Supreme Court as Unconstitutional and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Understanding (EDCA) between the Philippines and United States, but the Business firm Justice Committee rejects the complaints due to lack of substance.^[1]

In 2022 and 2019, impeachment complaints have been filed against both President Rodrigo Duterte and Vice President Leni Robredo.

Other government officials [edit]

Ombudsman Aniano Desierto was criticized by some for not aggressively investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption. The impeachment failed.

COMELEC commissioner Luzviminda Tancangco was accused of graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution. She allegedly showed bias for the multi-billion-peso voters registration and information organisation (VRIS) project, deciding to undertake it despite the lack of funds.

Master Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. was defendant of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of the public trust and other high crimes.

COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos was accused of ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal and Hello Garci controversy but resigned eventually.

Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez was impeached on March 22, 2011, on charges of the part's underperformance and failure to deed on several cases during and then-President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo'due south administration. The start impeachment complaint against Gutierrez was filed in 2009, but was dismissed later in that yr in a House dominated by Approach'due south Lakas Kampi CMD party.

In December 2011, 188 of the 285 members of the House of Representatives voted to transmit the 56-page Articles of Impeachment confronting Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

Commission on Elections Chairman Andres D. Bautista had filed a resignation on October eleven, 2017, only with effectivity engagement on December 31, 2017. Just due to not stating immediate effectivity of the resignation, on the aforementioned twenty-four hour period, the Business firm of Representatives notwithstanding voted to impeach the poll master with 137 votes (more than one/3 votes) from the House, overturning a justice committee resolution that before dismissed the complaint against him. Bautista eventually made his resignation effective later in the month, before the Senate convened as an impeachment court.

Impeachment proceeding of Principal Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was terminated after she was removed on May 11, 2018, via quo warranto by a special en banc session of the Supreme Court which also ruled that the Chief Justice post vacant; the petition alleged Sereno's appointment was void ab initio due to her failure in complying with the Judicial and Bar Council requirements

Public officials impeached [edit]

These are the people who were impeached past the House of Representatives in plenary.

#	Date of Impeachment	Accused	Office	Filed by	Issue
1	November 13, 2000	Joseph Estrada	President	Opposition Bloc led by Business firm Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr.	Trial aborted on January 17, 2001; declared equally resigned by the Supreme Courtroom and left office on January twenty, 2001.
2	March 22, 2011	Merceditas Gutierrez	Ombudsman	31 civil society leaders led past sometime Senate President Jovito Salonga and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan	House of Representatives approved the Articles of Impeachement past the vote of 241–47 with 4 abstentions, Resigned on April 29, 2011, before trial past the Senate.
three	December 12, 2011	Renato Corona	Master Justice of the Supreme Court	Ana Theresia Hontiveros-Baraquel, Rodolfo Lozada Jr., Juan Carlo Tejano, and Lea Lopez Navarro	Removed and butterfingers by the Senate on May 29, 2012, by the vote of twenty–3.
four	October xi, 2017	Andres D. Bautista	Chairman of the Commission on Elections	Former Kabayan Partylist representative Harry Roque	House of Representatives approved the Articles of Impeachment by the vote of 137–75 with 2 abstentions. Resigned on October 23, 2017, before trial by the Senate.

To date, Corona'due south removal as Principal Justice and disqualification from public office is the only completion of the impeachment process. Estrada'due south impeachment trial ended prematurely, while Gutierrez and Bautista resigned before the Senate convened as an impeachment court.

Impeachable officials [edit]

Based on Article XI, Department 2 of the Constitution The post-obit officials may be subjected to impeachment:

President of the Philippines
Vice President of the Philippines
Justices of the Supreme Court of the Philippines
Members of the Constitutional Commissions:

Commission on Elections
Ceremonious Service Commission
Committee on Inspect

Ombudsman

Other officials tin can exist removed from offices only not past impeachment: those under the executive department may exist dismissed by the president; members of Congress tin can be expelled by two-thirds vote of the chamber the member is a office of; local elected officials can be removed from function through think.

In the 1935 and 1973 constitutions, the President, the Vice President, the Justices of the Supreme Court, and the Accountant General were the impeachable officials.

Impeachable offenses [edit]

The Constitution limits the offenses to the following: culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or expose of public trust. In the 1935 and 1973 constitution, betrayal of public trust was non an impeachable crime.

Culpable violation of the constitution [edit]

For purposes of impeachment, "culpable violation of the Constitution" is defined every bit "the deliberate and wrongful breach of the Constitution." Further, "Violation of the Constitution fabricated unintentionally, in skillful faith, and mere mistakes in the proper construction of the Constitution, do not constitute an impeachable law-breaking."

Treason [edit]

Co-ordinate to the Revised Penal Code, treason is defined as "Any Filipino citizen who levies war against the Philippines or adheres to his/her enemies, giving them aid or comfort within the Philippines or elsewhere."

Bribery [edit]

The Revised Penal Lawmaking defines bribery in 2 forms:

Direct bribery is "committed by any public officer who shall concord to perform an human action constituting a crime, in connection with the operation of this official duties, in consideration of any offer, promise, gift or nowadays received by such officeholder, personally or through the mediation of another."
Indirect bribery is "committed by a public officer when he accept gifts offered to him by reason of his office."

Graft and corruption [edit]

Whatever violation of the Republic Act No. 3019, or the Anti-Graft and Decadent Practices Human activity is an impeachable offense, on which a public official plant to have acquired, whether in his name or in the name of other persons, an amount of belongings and/or money plain out of proportion to his salary.^[two]

Betrayal of Public Trust [edit]

Betrayal of public interest, inexcusable negligence of duty, tyrannical abuse of ability, breach of official duty by malfeasance or misfeasance, cronyism favoritism, etc. to the prejudice of public interest and which tend to bring the office into disrepute.^[3]

Other high crimes [edit]

Offenses which like treason and bribery, are so serious and enormous a nature as to strike at the very life or the orderly workings of the government^[four]

In Francisco Jr. vs. Firm of Representatives, the Supreme Court purposely refused to ascertain the significant of "other high crimes or betrayal of public trust," saying that it is "a non-justiciable political question which is beyond the scope of its judicial power." However, the Courtroom refuses to proper name which bureau can define it; the Courtroom impliedly gives the power to the House of Representatives, which initiates all cases of impeachment.

Impeaching Procedures [edit]

The Impeachment proceedings shall proceed in accordance to Article XI, Department 3 of the Constitution of the Philippines, every bit follows:

A verified complaint for impeachment may be filed past any Member of the House of Representatives or by any citizen upon a resolution or endorsement by any Member thereof, which shall exist included in the Order of Business organization within x session days, and referred to the proper Committee within iii session days thereafter. The Committee, after hearing, and past a bulk vote of all its Members, shall submit its study to the Business firm within lx session days from such referral, together with the corresponding resolution. The resolution shall be calendared for consideration past the House within x session days from receipt thereof.cralaw

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 exist recorded.

In example the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least 1-third of all the Members of the Business firm, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith go on.

No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the aforementioned official more than once within a period of one year

The Senate shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. When sitting for that purpose, the Senators shall exist on oath or affirmation. When the President of the Philippines is on trial, the Primary Justice of the Supreme Courtroom shall preside, simply shall not vote. No person shall be convicted without the concurrence of ii-thirds of all the Members of the Senate

Judgment in cases of impeachment shall not extend further than removal from role and disqualification to concur any office under the Commonwealth of the Philippines, simply the party bedevilled shall notwithstanding be liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and penalization, co-ordinate to police

Whatsoever citizen with an endorsement of a fellow member of the Business firm of Representative may file charges.
The House Committee on Justice will decide by majority vote if the complaint

has substance.
sufficient in form.
sufficient in grounds.
probable crusade in the complaint.

The House Committee will refer it to House Plenary that will be voted upon with at least one-third votes

If the vote passes, the complaint will get the "Articles of Impeachment" and the House will appoint prosecutors who may or may not be members of the House, they volition be headed past the Chairman of House Committee on Justice
If the vote fails in any role of the procedure, the official accused can't be filed for impeachment for one calendar year.

The Senate will then try to captive the impeached official. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote.
If convicted, there are two punishments the Senate can mete out:

Censure or a reprimand, or
Removal from office and prohibition to hold any governmental office

In the 1935 constitution, a 2-thirds vote was needed to impeach an official by the House of Representatives, while a three-fourths vote in the Senate was required to convict.

Limits [edit]

The 1987 (current) constitution limits the number of impeachment complaints that can be filed against an official to one per year. There has been controversy over what counts every bit an impeachment complaint. While some argued that for a complaint to count against the limit information technology must be voted on, and others accept proposed other interpretations, the Firm has decided that any complaint filed fulfills the quota regardless of how well-formed it is or who filed it. Therefore, supporters of a vulnerable official can file a weak, flawed, or unconstitutional complaint, thereby using up the quota and protecting that official from impeachment for that twelvemonth.

There has too been fence about whether a year should be a calendar year, say 2006, or a full 12-calendar month menstruum. An example of how this limit works in practice are the attempts to impeach President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. While the Philippine impeachment procedures parallel the Usa' impeachment procedures, the ii procedures differ in ii meaning means: the percentage needed to impeach and the numerical limit on impeachment procedures.

Notes [edit]

If the President of the Philippines is on trial, such every bit in 2001, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines shall preside but not vote.

References [edit]

^ "Filed: First valid impeach complaint vs Aquino". Rappler.
^ Bernas, Joaquin (2003). The 1987 Constitution of the Democracy of the Philippines: A Commentary. p. 1113.
^ Record of the Constitutional Commission of 1986,. p. 272.
^ Cruz, Isagani (2002). Philippine Political Law. p. 358.

External links [edit]

Ramble Ground and Annotations from lawphil.net
Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings (pdf)
Athenaeum for Approach Impeachment
Judging the Chief Justice: A Recapitulation by The CenSEI Written report

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impeachment_in_the_Philippines