MANILA, Philippines – The Supreme Court should not interfere in the Senate fiasco just yet, and allow the senators to resolve the leadership issue by themselves lest the judiciary become tainted by the politics of the legislative and executive branches of the government, said a constitutional law expert.
According to University of the Philippines College of Law associate dean Paolo Tamase, the SC should only get itself entangled ‘when there is a ripe dispute.’
‘It’s tempting to go immediately through the judicial route, since the Supreme Court can definitively interpret the constitutional provisions and rules involved,’ he told the Inquirer on Sunday.
‘But in past disputes like this, the Court has been careful to function as a safety valve only when all options have been exhausted, since premature intervention will risk being seen by the public as partisan-regardless of what lawyers or even the Court insists-and thus its legitimacy as a politically neutral body,’ Tamase explained.
While Congress is adjourned until next month, committee hearings of the Senate and the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte shall proceed as scheduled.
For Tamase, despite a wrestle for the Senate presidency, there exists a ‘functional majority’ in the chamber, with Senate Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian, serving as acting Senate president, with 12 members. Meanwhile, the new minority led by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano has 10 members.
‘There doesn’t seem to be a grave urgency yet for the Court to intervene, unless critical developments emerge in the next few days,’ he said.
The power shift occurred during the June 3 proceedings, when Gatchalian invoked SC’s 1949 ruling in Avelino v. Cuenco, arguing that quorum should be determined based on senators who are available and subject to the chamber’s jurisdiction rather than the total number of Senate seats.
According to Gatchalian, the Senate effectively has only 22 members over whom jurisdiction may currently be exercised.
Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa remains beyond the Senate’s coercive reach while reportedly evading an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Meanwhile Sen. Jinggoy Estrada has been detained following his arrest on plunder and graft charges on June 1.
Under that interpretation, the presence of 12 senators-instead of 13-constituted a valid quorum sufficient to transact business and reorganize the chamber.
While Cayetano or any member of his bloc has announced plans to question the Avelino ruling before SC, external personalities were already urging the high court to step into the issue.
For former Senate President Franklin Drilon, an SC intervention is necessary to settle the Senate leadership row, as the high court has the power to question the legality of the leadership reorganization.
‘The Supreme Court is needed because this has gone deep and far. Many statements have been made, and the public and government operations are being inconvenienced if this is not resolved,’ he said.
A teacher also asked the SC to affirm the legality of the June 3 session in the Senate where a quorum was declared with only 12 senators and a reorganization of the chamber was held.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. also said he was ‘examining all options’ and ‘looking at the law and the Constitution’ to remedy the Senate situation.
According to Tamase, the Supreme Court often does not disturb political settlements and movements that have already been accomplished, especially if they concern only the internal leadership of either chamber of the Congress, ‘at the risk of reigniting the political dispute it so cautiously avoids.’
‘Senate leadership issues do not involve fundamental rights of citizens, so unlike in cases where the Court will intervene even when unpopular, it often steps back in these types of challenges,’ he said.
‘If we look at past instances of leadership challenges, we’ve always allowed the Senate to politically fight it out,’ he added.
According to Tamase, the growing public impatience over the deadlock could pressure some senators to switch sides, allowing one bloc to gain a majority of 13 members and elect a permanent Senate President.