MANILA, 29 October 2003 — A move to impeach Chief Justice Hilario Davide was put on hold yesterday as Congress adjourned, giving President Gloria Arroyo two weeks to solve a problem which could plunge the country into a constitutional crisis.
Congress went into recess after the House of Representative’s presiding officer ruled there was no quorum to vote on the complaint against the Supreme Court chief.
The move gives Davide and Arroyo two weeks to try and convince the House of Representatives to withdraw the impeachment complaint against the country’s fifth most senior official and the man fourth in line to the presidential succession.
Nearly a third of the house want Davide impeached and put on trial in the Senate for his refusal to open the judiciary’s budget books to Congress. It would take about one-third of the house, or 76 members, for the impeachment to go ahead.
Davide is accused of misusing about 48 million pesos (about $865,000) from a judiciary fund. If the Senate finds him guilty he would be removed from office.
Davide insists the legislature does not have powers to oversee an equal branch of government, and that in any event, official auditors have pronounced the books to be in order.
The stand-off has rocked the financial markets and pushed the peso near its all-time low against the dollar. Arroyo warned earlier yesterday that the impeachment move could set back the economy.
Deputy House Speaker Raul Gonzales, the presiding officer, abruptly banged the gavel to adjourn the session until Nov. 10, ruling that there was no quorum.
His action cut off Rep. Rodolfo Plaza of Surigao, who had the floor and was formally serving notice that the impeachment complaint against Davide would now be submitted to the Senate.
“There was really no physical quorum” and therefore the House could not sit in session, Gonzales later told reporters.
Opposition legislators accused Arroyo allies who make up the majority of the House of illegally blocking the impeachment motion.
“It was obviously a scripted move,” opposition Rep. Didagen Dilangalen (Cotabato) told reporters.
Earlier yesterday, Arroyo warned that the stand-off was harmful.
“The nation’s peace of mind is disturbed by political developments that are telegraphing signals of instability,” Arroyo said in a written statement.
Arroyo, who survived a military rebellion three months ago, said “such controversial confrontations between powerful institutions have a way of setting back our economy and driving more of our people into hardship.”
The peso hit an intra-day low of 55.590 to the dollar yesterday morning near its all-time low of 55.750, dealers said.
“I appeal for prudence and constructive action among our leaders. We have to end the impeachment controversy at once but we want to make sure this will end well in the most proper, principled and righteous way,” Arroyo added.
House Speaker Jose de Venecia wants Davide to concede to congressional oversight over the funds, and for the opposition in return to withdraw the impeachment complaint.
The speaker warned that unless both sides moderated their positions, Congress would be unable to pass the 2004 budget or act on economic and social reform bills endorsed by Arroyo.
“Once the impeachment complaint reaches the Senate for trial, we may as well say goodbye to the budget, not to mention the economic and social legislation that will be held hostage and will not be taken up anymore,” de Venecia said on ABS-CBN television.
De Venecia warned that once the complaint reaches the Senate, “we will have a full blown constitutional crisis.”
Status Quo
Later in the day, the Supreme Court “called” on Congress to “maintain the status quo,” — that is, to refrain from transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial — incensing further some legislators.
“This is ushering in a full-scale constitutional crisis,” said de Venecia, who had sought to avoid a direct confrontation between the two branches of government by causing the early adjournment of the House.
Rep. Felix William Fuentebella (Nationalist People’s Coalition, Camarines Sur), one of the two principal complainants of the controversial second impeachment complaint against Davide, declared: “We are now teetering at the precipice of a constitutional breakdown.”
Rep. Gilbert Remulla (Laban ng Demokratikong Pilipino, Cavite) said the status quo order was the “judicial version of the Pearl Harbor attack.”
Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao (NPC, Isabela) noted that the “question now is who between the two great powers will blink first.”
“The status quo order was a gauntlet thrown by the Supreme Court,” Aggabao said. “Congress has no option but to take the challenge and uphold the constitutionality of all its actions.”
Asked how congressmen will deal with the high court’s status quo order, Aggabao said: “We will not allow ourselves to be placed under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.”
But Sen. Joker Arroyo said last night that the SC order was not a temporary restraining order (TRO). “There is a distinction,” said Arroyo. He explained that the SC issued an order to “maintain the status quo,” or preserve the present situation “so that it would not render the petitions moot.”
He pointed out that the order was “diplomatically worded” because it addressed both Houses of Congress.
On the other hand, a TRO was like an injunction, said Arroyo. “It is very much stronger, very mandatory,” which “commands the parties to cease and desist from doing anything.”
“The Supreme Court was very careful. In fact, (the word TRO) is not in the order,” said Arroyo who cited the SC’s use of the phrase, “calls on the parties,” rather than “cease and desist.”
In a resolution, the full court unanimously stopped the House from immediately transmitting the articles of impeachment to the Senate, and the Senate from accepting the transmittal.
“The court calls on the petitioners and the respondents to maintain the status quo, enjoining the parties and all others acting for and in their behalf, to refrain from committing acts that would render the petitions moot,” the resolution, signed by Supreme Court Clerk of Court Luzviminda D. Puno, read.
The court also asked members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, along with the solicitor general, “to comment on the petitions with a non-extendible period of five days from notice hereof and in any event, not later than 3 Nov. 2003, Monday at 4:30 in the afternoon.”
They were also ordered to appear before the high court for oral arguments on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at 10 a.m.
De Venecia acknowledged fears that the deadlock between Congress and the Supreme Court may cause a new round of military adventurism.
“These fears are valid. That’s why we took immediate action to respect the decision of the Supreme Court,” de Venecia said.
He meant that Congress would recognize the decision of the high court. “We will make the strongest possible legal response,” he said. “We shall respect the decision of the Supreme Court and take positive and constructive actions in the next 10 days,” de Venecia said.
But pro-impeachment congressmen were less receptive.
The order will just preserve the “status quo” pending resolution of the merits of the petitions.
The court appointed the following as amici curiae (friends of the court): former Senate president Jovito Salonga; retired justices Hugo Gutierrez Jr. and Florenz Regalado; dean Regalado Pangalangan of the University of the Philippines College of Law; former justice minister and solicitor general Estelito Mendoza; and former constitutional commissioners Joaquin Bernas and Regalado Maambong.
Solicitor General Alfredo Benipayo, a former SC administrator, was also required to comment on the petition.
“No one is supposed to exacerbate the situation that could render the petitions moot. How things stand today would have to be maintained,” said SC spokesman Ismael Khan.
