Chua: Let Sara Duterte spokesperson enjoy limelight

MANILA, Philippines — Manila Rep. Joel Chua on Saturday brushed aside criticism from Vice President Sara Duterte’s camp over the Senate impeachment court’s decision to adjust the voting threshold for conviction, saying her spokesperson Paolo Panelo should be allowed to “enjoy the limelight.”

“He wants to be recognized, so let him. At the end of the day, we have heard the chief justices,” Chua, a member of the House prosecution panel, said at a news conference.

“Surely, he cannot claim to know better than the chief justices,” he added.

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Chua was responding to Panelo’s criticism of the impeachment court’s ruling on how the constitutionally required two-thirds vote for conviction should be computed when some senator-judges are not participating in the trial.

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The impeachment court had sought the views of retired Chief Justices Hilario Davide Jr., Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno, as well as retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, on the issue. The former magistrates presented differing legal approaches, with Davide, Panganiban and Puno saying the previously set 16-vote threshold was not necessarily fixed.

Chua said Duterte’s camp should follow the legal process if it disagrees with the ruling instead of making accusations.

“The problem is that when a decision does not favor them, they complain. That should not be the case. We have a process that must be followed,” Chua said.

“They said they would elevate the matter, and they can do that. But I think it is unfair to make all sorts of accusations,” he added.

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Chua said such statements appeared intended to draw public attention.

“So there is only one thing we can think of. If you want to say all sorts of things, perhaps you want to be noticed,” he said.

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House prosecution spokesperson Benjamin “Jay” Tolosa Jr., meanwhile, responded to Panelo’s criticism of Presiding Officer Sen. Francis Escudero’s statement that the impeachment court’s ruling would not necessarily bind future impeachment proceedings.

“That is really the nature of impeachment proceedings. Jurisprudence is clear on that under the American concept of impeachment, on which our impeachment process is based. It is not binding on subsequent impeachment proceedings,” Tolosa said.

He said each impeachment court is separately constituted whenever an impeachment trial is initiated and is not a continuing body like the Supreme Court.

“So, negative conclusions cannot be drawn from that,” Tolosa said.

Chua likewise said the Constitution gives the Senate broad latitude to establish rules governing impeachment proceedings.

“The Constitution clearly gives wide latitude to the impeachment court, the Senate, to make its own rules,” Chua said.

He said rules adopted for Duterte’s impeachment trial could differ from those applied in a future impeachment proceeding.

“If the intention of the Constitution had been to impose highly stringent or overly technical rules, impeachment proceedings would have been placed in a judicial proceeding instead of an impeachment court,” Chua said.

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The Senate impeachment court ruled on Sept. 23 on the disputed computation of the two-thirds vote required for conviction after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defense and seeking the views of retired Supreme Court justices. Separate petitions challenging the ruling have since been filed before the Supreme Court. /dm