By Wilnard Bacelonia
MANILA – Senate President Vicente Sotto III has indicated he is now inclined to support moves to amend the Constitution in the light of the Supreme Court ruling that declared the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional.
In a virtual press briefing, Sotto said the ruling altered the constitutional design of impeachment and it may take decades to undo what has been done through jurisprudence alone.
“I do not like a constitutional convention, I do not like a constituent assembly. But if this is the situation, I am willing (to go for any of them),” he said.
Sotto said the SC decision leaves Congress no choice but to amend the 1987 Constitution, He reiterated that the SC decision encroached on Congressional powers.
“It is nothing short of a judicial legislation. It amended the Constitution, in my view,” Sotto said, adding that impeachment rules were made more restrictive than what the framers intended. The Senate leader, however, stressed that his position is based on constitutional principles and never on the personalities involved in the case.
“My position and my comments have nothing to do with personalities. Legislation belongs to Congress, not to the Supreme Court),” he stressed, adding that the Senate will the House of Representatives on the next steps in response to the ruling.
Sotto noted that constitutional remedies may indeed be necessary to clarify the impeachment process and restore the balance of powers among the various branches of government. (With PNA)
