History of Impeachment in the Philippines

History of Impeachment in the Philippines The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is a first in Philippine history. Corona was the first-ever Chief Justice to be impeached by the House of Representatives on allegations of corruption as well as accusations that he attempted to avert the prosecution of former President Gloria Arroyo for election-related charges. However, the impeachment of a public official is certainly not a recent trend in the Philippines. As early as 1949, impeachment complaints have been filed against Presidents, Ombudsmans, Supreme Court Justices and Constitutional Commissioners alike. The first public official in the Philippines against whom an impeachment complaint was filed was no other than the sixth President of the Republic, Elpidio Quirino. Early in 1949, a committee composed of seven members of the House of Representatives, led by Rep. Agripino Escareal, prepared a five-count accusation ranging from nepotism to gross expenditures, including allegations of using government funds to renovate the Malacañang Palace in Manila and to purchase expensive furniture. House Speaker Eugenio Perez subsequently convened and appointed another committee of seven, headed by Rep. Lorenzo Sumulong to look into the charges preparatory to their filing with the Senate, acting as an impeachment body. Solicitor General Felix Angelo Bautista entered his appearance as defense counsel for Quirino. Following several hearings, on April 19, 1949, after a rather chaotic session that lasted all night, the congressional committee reached a verdict completely absolving the President. Recognizing the substantial undercurrent of politicking behind the move to impeach, the decision of the committee was accepted favorably by the nation at large. Another Chief Executive who was almost ousted from his position was the late father of PGMA, Diosdado Macapagal. In 1964, Macapagal was accused of illegally importing rice to build public support for the upcoming national elections, unjustly dismissing public officials, using the military to intimidate his political opposition, and ordering the deportation of an American businessman who was in the custody of Congress in direct violation of the separation of powers doctrine. A Congressional committee, which was appointed to investigate on the charges, dismissed all the complaints. Of course, the term of one of the most controversial Presidents of the Republic, Ferdinand Marcos, would not be complete without an impeachment complaint or two filed against him. On August 13, 1985, fifty-six Assemblymen signed a resolution calling for the impeachment of President Marcos for alleged misappropriation of “U.S. Aid” funds for his own personal use. The said Assemblymen cited a July 1985 “San Jose Mercury News” exposé of the Marcoses’ multi-million dollar investment and property holdings in the United States. The properties allegedly accumulated by the First Family were the Crown Building, Lindenmere Estate, and a number of residential apartments (in New Jersey and New York), a shopping center in New York, mansions (in London, Rome and Honolulu), the Helen Knudsen Estate in Hawaii and three condominiums in San Francisco, California. On August 14, 1985, or a day after the impeachment was called, the committee appointed by the National Assembly dismissed the complaints after roughly five hours of deliberation by reason of continued unsupported allegations by the complainants. Even former President Corazon Aquino did not escape an impeachment complaint. In 1988, she was accused by several legislators of graft and corruption and for certain violations of the Constitution. A month after, the charges were rejected due to lack of compelling evidence. The first successful impeachment in the country took place in 2000 when former President Estrada was accused of bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable

violation of the Constitution. It all started when then Ilocos Sur Governor Chavit Singson, a close friend of Estrada, alleged that he had personally given the former President P400 million as payoff from jueteng, and such was hidden in a bank account under the name of a certain "Jose Velarde". To determine the truth of the accusations, the House of Representatives selected eleven members to act as prosecutors. The Senate, on the other hand, acted as the impeachment court with the senators as judges. On November 13, 2000 Rep. Manny Villar, then speaker of the House, sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial. The impeachment trial started on December 7, 2000 and was canceled on January 16, 2001 after the House prosecutors walked out from the impeachment proceedings, to protest the perceived oppressive inclination of the eleven senator-judges, who supported Joseph Estrada. Such walkout paved way for EDSA II and the forced resignation of Estrada. This was the first time the Filipino public witnessed, through radio and television, an elected president stand in trial with full media coverage. The world record for “the most number of impeachment complaints filed against a single public official” will probably go to former President and current Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Impeachment complaints were filed against Arroyo in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 for different imputations including attempting to lie, cheat, and steal during the 2004 Presidential Elections. However all such impeachment cases never prospered due to absence of a one-third vote from the members of the Congress. The second successful impeachment in the Philippines happened, not to a President, but to a former Ombudsman. Merceditas Gutierrez was impeached on March 22, 2011 on charges of the office's underperformance and failure to act on several cases during former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's administration. The first impeachment complaint against Gutierrez was filed in 2009, but was dismissed later in that year in a House dominated by Arroyo’s allies. Apart from former Presidents and former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, other government officials who went under the fire of impeachment were the following:  former Ombudsman Aniano Desierto - accused of not aggressively investigating and prosecuting cases of corruption;  former COMELEC Commissioner Luzviminda Tangcanco - accused of graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution;  former Chief Justice Hilario Davide, Jr. - accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of the public trust and other high crimes  former COMELEC Chairman Benjamin Abalos - accused of ZTE national broadband network (NBN) deal and Hello Garci controversy The impeachment of Chief Justice Renato Corona is the latest addition to the very few successful impeachment attempts in the Philippines. While Corona’s trial is at present, happening before us, let us look back to the history of such an arduous and technical process. I hope the prosecutors will trace the development of Philippine impeachment throughout the years, be able to determine the mistakes which were committed in the past and make sure that none of those mistakes will ever be incurred again. The road towards the “litigated truth” is a rocky one but so is the road to a better justice system in the Philippines. Sometimes, we just have to go for a ride. *****