House prosecutors ask Senate to issue writ of summons to Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines – Impeachment prosecutors from the House of Representatives asked the Senate to issue a writ of summons to Vice President Sara Duterte, and to direct her to file her answer to the verified impeachment complaint against her.

The House prosecutors addressed the entry with motion to issue summons to Senate President Francis Escudero, presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court. They asked that the Vice President be directed to respond to the Articles of Impeachment within 10 days of receipt of the writ of summons.

The motion was signed by 4Ps Representative Marcelino Libanan on behalf of the House prosecutors. He and several other House prosecutors filed the motion before the Senate.

The prosecution cited as basis the transmittal of the verified impeachment complaint to the Senate on February 5, and the constitutional provision that upon impeachment by at least one-third of the House, “the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”

“In accordance with Rule VII of Resolution No. 39 dated 23 March 2011 or the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, published last 26 March 2011…a writ of summons shall be issued to the person impeached which will notify him/her to appear before the Honorable Impeachment Court and file his/her Answer to the Articles of Impeachment within a non-extendible period of ten (10) days from receipt thereof.”

The prosecution also cited the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials, which “expressly provides that it ‘shall remain in force until amended or repealed.’”

“Such language is significant and has been determined by the Supreme Court to relay an intention for the said rules to be ‘valid from the date of their adoption until they are amended or repealed’ and ‘to be effective even in the next Congress,’” the prosecutors told the Senate.

“This behooves the Honorable Impeachment Court to give effect to the constitutional mandate for the instant impeachment case to ‘forthwith proceed’ and issue the writ of summons to respondent Duterte,” they added.

Escudero said he will refer the matter to the Senate Legal Team, and that he will discuss this with the latter on Wednesday, March 26.

“We will act on this accordingly and in due course,” he said.

In late February, Escudero made public his proposed timetable for Duterte’s impeachment trial, setting its start for July 30.

The Vice President has been out of the country since March 12, when she left for The Hague, the Netherlands, in relation to the arrest of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, by the International Criminal Court. – Rappler.com