Dennis Gaviola

Article (news)

RG Cruz

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Both Senate President Francis Escudero and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna do not think that the Supreme Court is committing overreach in reviewing the pending impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.The Supreme Court earlier ordered the House to answer inquiries on the circumstances that led to the filing of the impeachment.However, the House declined to so answer some of the questions, as it insisted on its power of impeachment. The Supreme Court posted a copy of the <a href="https://sc.judiciary.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Compliance-HOR-278353-and-278359.pdf">House&#x27;s submission</a> on its website. &quot;Respondents most respectfully bed the indulgence of the Honorable Court and conveys the need to decline responding to inquiries (f) (g), (h) and to further respond to inquiry (j). It is the position of the House that these matters pertain to its internal proceedings, which have always been regarded as beyond the jurisdiction and scrutiny of this Honorable Court. This is especially because the matters referred to, the preparation, circulation, and perusal of the impeachment complaint as well as its attachments, are not government by any specific constitutional provision or House rule.&quot;&quot;This restraint on the part of the respondent House is grounded on no less than the separation of powers enshrined in our constitution. Being a co-equal branch, the Congress is entitled to respect with regard to those matters which are within its exclusive jurisdiction,&quot; the submission stated.Azcuna however said that while the Constitution vests the House with the exclusive power to initiate, that power is not without limits. He said it must be exercised within the ambit of the Constitution, and that is where the review power of the Supreme Court, comes in.&quot;The procedure after initiating or the procedure of treating a complaint filed before it is governed by specific uh procedures in the constitution itself and the question of the Supreme Court, I believe, has to do with the compliance with the procedure specifically outlined in the Constitution itself,&quot; Azcuna said.&quot;I think... that the Supreme Court is acting within its constitutional power and, in fact, duty to determine whether, in a particular case, any agency or instrumentality of the government has acted with grave abuse of discretion and therefore may be corrected by the Supreme Court through the exercise of its extended power of certiorari.&quot;He said that if the high court finds that the House did not comply with the limits imposed of the constitution on its impeachment power, then it may find grave abuse.Azcuna says the Supreme Court is not just empowered, but dutybound to check abuses of power.Escudero, meanwhile, maintained that the House is not higher than the Supreme Court.&quot;Comments of overreach with respect to the Supreme Court puts them in a position as if they are higher, better, more intelligent than the Supreme Court when it comes to the law. Pero bilang abogado, alam naming lahat yan. Kapag nagkamali ang regional trial court, ang municipal trial court, city trial court, pwedeng i-review yan ng Court of Appeals. Pag nagkamali ang Court of Appeals, pwedeng i-review ng Supreme Court iyan,&quot; he said.&quot;Pag may iginawad na desisyon ng Korte Suprema, sang-ayon ka man o hindi, it becomes part of the law of the land. Hindi sila pwedeng maging mas magaling pa sa Korte Suprema lalo na pagdating sa pag-interpreta ng batas. Bilang mga abogado, tinuro sa amin yan first year pa lamang kami, sang-ayon ka man o hindi. Pwede mong i-argue yung kaso mo hanggang gusto mo. Pero kapag nagpasiya na ang Korte, sang-ayon ka man o hindi, kailangan galangin, respetuhin at sundin namin yun bilang officers ng Korte,&quot; he added.Escudero said nothing prevents any member of the Senate Impeachment Court from insisting that the House answer those same questions which they declined to answer before the Supreme Court.Azcuna was among the drafters of the 1987 Constitution and he explained they left regulations on the power of impeachment because they anticipated the possibility that it maybe abused.&quot;When we were framing this, I remember that we were conscious of balancing two things. This is embedded with an article of the Constitution on public accountability of public officers. So the first principle is public officers occupying positions of public trust must at all times be accountable to our people and yet, it also says when it regulates the exercise of the accountability principle, it says that not more than one complaint for impeachment may be filed against the same official within one year,&quot; he said. &quot;So, hindi po limitless yang power na iyan to extract accountability. It is subjected to a framework of tight regulations in order to make sure that&#x27;s not abuse. So the possibility of abuse, you&#x27;re right, RG, has already been foreseen by the framers of the constitution, which is why they are limiting this very powerful accountability tool of impeachment by certain regulations. Not more than one complaint initiated against same official within one year,&quot; he added.Azcuna conceded that the personal political interests of those involved may come into play, especially since conviction in an impeachment does not just lead to removal from office, but perpetual disqualification--which in the case of Vice President Sara Duterte--could mean that she maybe taken out of the running for the 2028 presidential election.&quot;Yes, there is a possibility that personal interests may enter into the equation. But then that&#x27;s why they have to take another oath. Although they&#x27;re politicians, when they perform their functions as judges in an impeachment tribunal, in an impeachment case, they take another oath and they should forget their personal interests and follow only the Constitution under that new oath,&quot; he said.Azcuna said that the Court has a delicate tightrope to walk.&quot;That is a situation which really calls for balancing the traditional doctrine with respect to the intervention of the Supreme Court on the work of the legislature. It&#x27;s called the enrolled bill doctrine. Under this doctrine the Supreme Court usually declines to go behind a certification by the legislative body as to the manner in which a bill has been adopted into law, into a proposed law. So that is the precedent, that is the doctrine. That is, however, with respect to ordinary legislation,&quot; he said.&quot;So as long as it is in the framework of these provisions of the Constitution, providing for the manner in which impeachment may be initiated, may be tried and decided, the Supreme Court may intervene. But whether to do so or not is, of course, up to its own judgment as to the nature of the case and the impact of its intervention on society and the system of our law itself,&quot; he added.<div> </div><div><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H-W56TKL8m8??si=AaTmO-smHnezfYxO&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe> </div>

Both Senate President Francis Escudero and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna do not think that the Supreme Court is committing overreach in reviewing the pending impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Both Senate President Francis Escudero and retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna do not think that the Supreme Court is committing overreach in reviewing the pending impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Escudero, Azcuna: No overreach in SC review of Sara Duterte impeachment

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Escudero, Azcuna: No overreach in SC review of Sara Duterte impeachment

RG Cruz,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 24, 2025 11:02 PM PHT

Read More:

Francis Escudero

Adolfo Azcuna

SC

Sara Duterte

Impeachment

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