Senate must obey TRO -- Miriam

THE Senate, sitting as impeachment court, would be on a "collision path" with the Supreme Court if the former disobeys the temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by the latter preventing the opening of the dollar deposits of Chief Justice Renato Corona reportedly amounting to $700,000.

For Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago it would be prudent for the Senate “to obey” the subpoena issued by the Supreme Court requiring the impeachment court to justify its earlier ruling ordering the Philippine Savings Bank to submit documents covering Corona’s alleged dollar accounts. 

“If the impeachment court resolves not to follow the TRO, magkakabanggaan (ang Supreme Court at Senate). There’s no way of avoiding that anymore. Our problem is, one of the powers of executive branch is the Armed Forces. The other branches have other powers. But the AFP falls under the executive branch of government,” she said.

She added: “Under our system of checks and balances, every branch can be checked by another branch. Even the Supreme Court can be checked. If the Supreme Court issues a decision, that’s the end of litigation. That’s not the end of the latter. Parties can no longer bring a case over and over because that is already res judicata. But the Supreme Court can be overruled by Congress by passing a law. There is still a system of checks and balances.”

The senator-judges are expected to hold a caucus Monday to decide whether to “honor” the High Tribunal’s TRO.  The Supreme Court Thursday granted the petition of Corona’s lawyers preventing the impeachment court as well as the House prosecution panel from opening his dollar deposits with PSBank.

Pascual Garcia, president of PS Bank refused to turn over dollar account papers of Corona on the ground that such move would violate the Foreign Currency Deposit Act. The prosecutors claimed that Corona failed to indicate in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) the dollar deposits which violates the Constitution.

“Kung walang uurong sa kanila, magiging stalemate ‘yun. It will have to be decided on the streets because there’s nobody else will make the decision. As much as possible we must avoid a situation wherein we, in effect, forfeit the right of one branch to check the other. We’re in effect surrendering the power to the people, to the mob,” Santiago said.

“If the impeachment court defies the TRO, it becomes an ‘absolute’ impeachment court. That is not allowed by our system of checks and balances. No one branch, assuming for the sake of argument that the impeachment court is the fourth branch, no one branch is allowed to be absolute in its power,” she said.

She added: “If the impeachment court rules that it has absolute power over anything concerning impeachment then there is no check on it at all. It becomes a super-branch of government. There has to be some checks on impeachment court. All other three branches have checks guaranteed by our tripartite system.”

“The Senate still has to respond. In my view, the Senate should no longer raise a question that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction over the impeachment court because clearly under the Constitution, what the Supreme Court is doing is constitutional,” Santiago said.

“In my view, as a constitutional lawyer, we have to obey the subpoena. Under the new Constitution, there is a provision, unlike in the past, that the Supreme Court, has power not only over justiciable questions but also over so-called political questions,” Santiago said.

Santiago has described as “speculative” the view of Sen.Franklin Drilon that it will set a precedent if the impeachment court follows the TRO. “We should avoid and not precipitate a constitutional collision. Parang tinatanong mo magbabanggan sila? Sino dapat magbigay? Sila dapat pareho,” she said.

Buck TRO

Congressmen also warned that the TRO against the disclosure of Corona’s dollar accounts will cause a clash between the High Tribunal and the Senate impeachment court.

However, Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, Bayan Muna Reps. Neri Colmenares and Teddy Casiño condemned the justices who voted in favor of the TRO saying that this is a big blow to the authority and independence of the impeachment court.

Evardone reminded the SC that under the Constitution, the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court has the sole power to try and decide on impeachment cases against impeachable officers.

He urged the impeachment court to initiate moves to counter this SC move otherwise, it will set a precedent.

“This may render the impeachment court inutile because an impeached person can always go to SC to avoid impeachment proceedings. I think SC has no power over the Impeachment court,” Evardone said.

Meanwhile, Colmenares said that the issuance of the TRO is a clear attempt to derail the impeachment proceedings and hide the truth about Corona’s unexplained wealth.

“It’s the worst move Corona can make and will surely backfire on him and his SC justices. Whatever public trust that Corona has left so far will completely disappear,” Colmenares said.

“I hope the  Senate will not allow this attempt to hide the truth and persist in the subpoena of information on this accounts. Aside from hiding the truth he is setting the SC and the Senate as an impeachment court on a collision course which could lead to turmoil,” the militant lawmaker added.

For his part, Casiño said that by issuing the TRO, the SC is courting the people’s anger and stoking the flame of people power.

“By abusing their powers to protect one of their own from public accountability, the court is treading on dangerous ground. The justices might just awake one day to find themselves stripped of their powers by the people’s wrath. We condemn the SC’s move and call on the Senate not to back down on this blatant challenge to its authority,” Casiño said.

Malacañang yesterday urged the senator-judges  not to bow to interference of the Supreme Court in the impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, saying deferring to the SC order on the dollar accounts would emasculate the Senate..

Lacierda sees no end to the Supreme Court’s interference if the Senate will yield to the High Court order.

"It won't stop. Ngayon foreign currency deposits. Nagpaparinig na ang defense, sabi nila even in the peso accounts, they are going to say 'It's a fishing expedition.' What will stop them now from going to the SC and say 'Your honors, the peso accounts, while it has been revealed, was a product of the fruit of the poisonous tree.' That's another question of law. The SC will say, 'Teka, we have jurisdiction. We are going to rule on that.'    With Jester P. Manalastas, EMontano