The remand by the Senate acting as an impeachment court of the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte back to the House of Representatives is an unprecedented move in the history of impeachment proceedings conducted in the Philippines.
The remand itself raised eyebrows in the legal community, and some have even opined that its constitutionality can be questioned in the courts. But what exactly does “remand” mean?
Well, for us laymen, remand has two applications, namely: a remand in custody, which entails an order from a court to remand into custody a person charged with a crime and is considered a flight risk or a danger to the community. That is the first application of remand.
The other application is when a higher court, for instance an appellate court or the supreme court, will remand a case back to a lower court for further action, such as when a higher court gives back the case to the lower court due to some errors in the proceeding or if additional evidence or information is required to resolve the case.
But the remand itself by the Senate of the impeachment case against the vice president is merely a knee jerk reaction by the Senators when it dawned upon them, at least with those allied with the vice president, that they will be compelled by law to finally act as judges and try the case against Sara Duterte.
It was actually a desperate move on their part praying that by giving back the case to the Lower House, they will gain a reprieve and delay in trying the case until the 19th Congress ends and, hopefully, based on their interpretation, the 20th Congress will no longer have the authority to continue the proceeding.
Again, however, the deeper issue that the senators allied with Duterte wanted to avoid is the matter of the trial itself should it ensue, because then, all the dirty linen and dark secrets of the vice president, and perhaps even the Duterte family itself, will be disclosed by the House prosecutors as their evidence to support their allegation that the former is guilty as charged.
Here, at least, they probably know that Sara would be in difficult straits to justify her actions in the utilization of government funds both in the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
The misuse of government funds alone might trigger other skeletons in the closet which might be brought to light during the trial, and even if, ultimately, the vice president is declared not guilty by the Senate, her reputation as a popular public official will certainly be affected. Hence, the clear attempt to derail the impeachment trial.
So, this is what the senator friends of Sara Duterte are terrified of—the bringing into light of the acts of malfeasance allegedly committed by the second highest elected public official of the country and the determination of her guilt for the offenses she allegedly committed.
This is also the very reason why, even at the cost of violating the provisions of the Constitution on the procedure of impeachment, those senators allied with the Dutertes are trying their utmost to prevent a trial from taking place, afraid of the prospect of their names and reputations as honorable public servants being dragged and scored along with that of the vice president.
