A cleansing process

To impeach, according to the dictionary, “is to accuse a public official before an appropriate tribunal of misconduct in office; to call [an official] to account.” In its broadest sense, impeachment is the process by which public officials may be removed from office on the basis of their conduct.

The dictionary meaning is general and sounds mild; the constitutional definition is stronger and more specific. Article XI, Section 2 of the Constitution provides: “The President, the Vice President, the Members of the Supreme Court, the Members of the Constitutional Commissions and the Ombudsman may be removed from office, on impeachment for, and conviction of, culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, or betrayal of public trust.”’

Impeachment is both a legal and political procedure. Legal, because it has to abide by the constitutional provision as well as the Rules of Court. Political, because it is carried out by the two very political chambers: the House of Representatives, which draws up the Articles of Impeachment, and the Senate, which has the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment. In carrying out their impeachment functions, the two chambers represent the people.

Iloilo Rep. Niel Tupas Jr., chair of the House committee on justice, quoted Joseph Story, a 19th century US Supreme Court justice, who said that “an impeachment is purely a process political in nature… It is not so much designed to punish an offender as to secure the state against gross political misdemeanor. It touches neither his person nor his property but simply divests him of his political capacity.’’

The Senate will be guided by precedents set in the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada and the impeachment proceedings against Chief Justice Hilario Davide. The trial of Estrada by the Senate was not carried out to its conclusion, because the refusal of the majority to have the “second envelope’’ opened triggered a walkout of the prosecutors and subsequently resulted in Edsa 2, prompting Estrada to leave Malacañang, an act which was later construed as “a constructive resignation.’’

The House in 2003 impeached Chief Justice Davide, but the Supreme Court dismissed the resolution for being unconstitutional, the complaint being the second filed in that year.

Also impeached was Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez but rather than go through what was expected to be a draining and nerve-wracking experience, she resigned.

The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona, which will be carried live on television, is expected to become again a virtual telenovela,  like Estrada’s impeachment trial which kept practically the entire nation glued to TV sets for its entire duration. Expect some of the lawyers to resort to technicalities and tricks of the trade. The testimony of some witnesses (recall Clarissa Ocampo of the Estrada trial fame) may be riveting and even surprising.

Legislators being politicians, expect a lot of grandstanding from lawyers in the prosecution (House) and the senator-judges. But ultimately, it will be strength and veracity of the evidence of both the prosecution and the defense that will largely influence the vote of the senator-judges. The senator-judges can be expected to act and decide with utmost discernment because their votes will be observed and scrutinized by the people who have shown in the Estrada trial that they cannot be hoodwinked by high-priced lawyers who may be expected to resort to some tricks of the trade.

We expect Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, an astute lawyer and parliamentarian, to admonish everybody involved in the impeachment process, not excluding the general public, to forget everything that has been said and disclosed before the start of the impeachment trial.

This is a historic and precedent-setting impeachment trial. We believe that however it will end—whether Corona will be convicted or acquitted—the impeachment trial will ultimately be a cleansing, cathartic experience not only for the Supreme Court, the Judiciary, Congress and the Presidency, but also for the entire nation. We hope it will be a quick trial, without, of course, sacrificing due process.