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[av_heading heading=’Integrated Bar of the Philippines urges restraint on impeachment filings’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=’30’ subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
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Tuesday, September 5, 2017
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Statement from the Integrated Bar of the Philippines
Impeachment complaints are now pending against the head of the Judiciary. Another one is being pushed against the head of the Commission on Elections. Yet another impeachment complaint is being planned, this time against the country’s Ombudsman.
It is true that Impeachment is one of the tools found in the Constitution to exact accountability. Still, we are reminded that impeachment is bitter medicine. While impeachment is by and large a political exercise, it should be used sparingly and only in the gravest of instances. The frequency and rate of these impeachment initiatives dilutes its power, strains the limited resources of Congress and, presents troubling questions whether like any other device, impeachment is being wielded wisely or carelessly. Impeachment is a scalpel, not a broadsword and, even if it were the latter, no sword retains its sharpness if swung too far and, too often.
The Constitution jealously protects the independence of the Judiciary as it is concededly the weakest of all three branches of government. As the unelected branch, the judiciary’s sole standard of action is the rule of law rather than the public pulse.
May we express the hope that impeachment as a process is not being brandished as a weapon of submission, thereby defeating Constitutional design that the judicial branch be insulated from considerations other than the facts and the law in discharging its function of adjudication. It is an assault upon the Constitution and the very ideal of limited government that is enshrined in it, when impeachment is misused as the very tool to undermine judicial independence.
As a multi-faceted organization with members from every point of the political spectrum, the IBP affirms its foremost allegiance to none other than the Rule of Law. While we acknowledge diversity in our members’ views, as well as the need to balance democratic ideals, the IBP’s current leadership will closely and impartially monitor these proceedings with the view that our institutions are preserved, not diluted./PN
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