00:00The impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte is not yet over.
00:04There is a competition regarding the one-year ban on impeachment proceedings.
00:08The impeachment prosecutors and the defense team of BICE have an argument.
00:13Tina Panganiban-Perez is on the scene.
00:20The impeachment trial is not yet over.
00:23The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte and her colleagues
00:28and her opponents from the House of Representatives are on the issue.
00:32Did the House of Representatives violate the provision in the Constitution
00:36that only one impeachment proceeding can be started against an official
00:41within a year?
00:42This is one of the reasons why Duterte stopped her impeachment trial in the Senate.
00:48There were already three complaints against BICE
00:52according to her lawyers.
00:54The actions taken by the House of Representatives
00:58in respect of the three prior impeachment complaints
01:03before it decided to finally transmit what it purports to be
01:09a verified resolution is something that is not permitted by the Constitution,
01:18particularly that one-year bar rule.
01:22But some impeachment prosecutors said
01:25that the one-year rule does not start with the filing of a complaint.
01:30The one-year ban starts when the impeachment complaint is initiated.
01:35This is based on the Supreme Court's decision
01:39in the case of Francisco v. House of Representatives.
01:42Initiated under this Francisco case
01:45means the filing of the complaint endorsed by a congressman
01:50and referred to the Committee on Justice for proper disposition.
01:55So it is not the mere filing of a complaint
01:59that will trigger the one-year period.
02:03So for us, there was no grave abuse of discretion.
02:07There was no lack of due process.
02:10BICE also questioned
02:12if the Secretary General could sit down
02:15on the first three impeachment complaints.
02:18You would recall that there were already pronouncements
02:20as early as December.
02:22There were three prior complaints that were filed.
02:24There were official reports and interviews
02:28and public pronouncements that were made by the Secretary General
02:32that supposedly these three complaints were already verified
02:35and ready for transmittal to the Speaker,
02:39but never did.
02:41And then suddenly, you see a fourth impeachment complaint
02:46that was suddenly referred to the Senate
02:50on the last day of the session.
02:52The question that we're asking respectfully,
02:56the Supreme Court to decide is whether this is permitted.
02:59When the Secretary General of the House of Representatives
03:02confirmed that the Fourth Impeachment Complaint
03:05was being transmitted to the Senate,
03:08he was followed by the impeachment prosecutors.
03:11For us, there was no violation.
03:13It was actually the request of the congressmen
03:16to look further into the complaints
03:20before it be moved to the Committee on Justice.
03:25This is not the first time this has happened.
03:27This happened during President Erap's time.
03:30This also happened.
03:31Despite the court's refusal,
03:33BICE is ready to face the impeachment trial.
03:37The statement of the Vice President
03:40that she's willing to face whatever charges against him,
03:46I think that didn't change anything.
03:48It doesn't mean that she filed a petition
03:52that she doesn't want to face.
03:53For GMA Integrated News,
03:55Tina Panganiban Perez,
03:57for Tutok, 24 hours.
04:10For GMA Integrated News, I'm Tina Panganiban Perez.
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