LIST: PH gov't officials who faced impeachment raps

As stated in the 1987 Constitution, top government officials in the Philippines, particularly the president, vice president, members of the Supreme Court, members of the Constitutional commissions, and the Ombudsman may be removed from their posts through the process of impeachment.

They can be impeached on the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.

The 1987 Constitution also indicates that all other public officers and employees may be removed from office as provided by law, but not by impeachment.

In the history of the Philippines, several officials have faced impeachment complaints while holding office. These include the following:

Joseph Estrada

To recall, Joseph Estrada was the first Philippine president to be impeached by the House of Representatives in 2000 due to charges of bribery and corruption.

Estrada, who was elected to presidency in 1998, was impeached for allegedly receiving payoffs from operators of the illegal numbers game jueteng.

It was in late 2000 when the trial started, however, it was eventually aborted when the senators voted not to open the second envelope that supposedly contained strong evidence against the former Manila mayor.

This incident then prompted the prosecutors to walk out of the impeachment proceedings in the Senate. Groups that were against Estrada flocked to the EDSA Shrine and this was followed by the withdrawal of support by the military force, resulting in Estrada's downfall.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo 

Several impeachment complaints were lodged against Arroyo during the 13th Congress. 

These include the following:

• Atty. Oliver Lozano's original complaint (with seven supplemental affidavits of complaint);
• Atty. Jose Lopez's complaint;
• Amended complaint with Lozano as the lead complainant.

Arroyo was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and graft and corruption based on alleged irregularities during her administration, including the ZTE national broadband network mess, the government's allegedly disadvantageous memorandum of understanding with ZTE over the Diwalwal mining site, the Hello Garci scandal, the P728-million fertilizer fund scam, the Quedancor mess, the alleged human rights violations, and the alleged bribery of congressmen.

However, the House Committee on Justice voted on August 31, 2005 to dismiss all three impeachment complaints filed against the then president.

In 2008, Arroyo was also slapped with another impeachment complaint for betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption and other high crimes.

Arroyo was able to manage to end her term even after facing graft-related controversies. 

Benigno Simeon Aquino III

Impeachment complaints were filed against Aquino over the Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). 

A third impeachment complaint was filed against him four days before he delivered his fifth State of the Nation Address (SONA) in 2014 in connection with the Philippine-United States Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA).

All of the complaints against him did not prosper.

Merceditas Gutierrez

Gutierrez, the country’s first female Ombudsman, faced an impeachment complaint due to alleged low conviction rate and inaction on several graft cases under her term, including those that involved former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo who appointed her in December 2005

The House of Representatives impeached Gutierrez, elevating the case into a Senate trial.

The impeachment trial, however, did not prosper as she quit her post right before the start of proceedings in the Senate.

Gutierrez held the position for five years before resigning in April 2011.

Renato Corona

The House of Representatives approved the impeachment of then Chief Justice Renato Corona in December 2011 for alleged graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust.

It was in May 2012 when the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, voted 20-3 in favor of the conviction of Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution over non-declaration of several assets, including real estate properties in his SALNs, causing his removal from the High Tribunal.

He faced criminal and civil cases before the Sandiganbayan and the Court of Tax Appeal (CTA) in connection with his alleged ill-gotten wealth, which stemmed from his supposed misdeclaration of assets in his SALNs from 2001 to 2011.

Corona had maintained innocence of all the charges against him saying he was a victim of the supposed political vendetta of the Aquino administration as he ruled in favor of the distribution of the Cojuangco-owned Hacienda Luisita land to farmers.

However, in May 2012, the Senate convicted Corona for betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Philippine Constitution.
 
The chamber, sitting as impeachment court, had ruled that Corona was guilty of Article II of the impeachment complaint: the chief magistrate did not fully disclose his assets in his SALN.

In 2016, Corona died of cardiac arrest at The Medical City in Pasig City. He was 67 years old.

Andres Bautista

Bautista, who served as chairman of the Commission on Elections, was voted to be impeached by the House of Representatives in October 2017.

This, after 137 House members voted against the motion of Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali to adopt the report of the Committee on Justice dismissing the complaint against Bautista.

Former Negros Oriental Representative Jacinto Paras and lawyer Ferdinand Topacio filed the impeachment complaint against Bautista accusing the latter of betrayal of public trust due to his failure to address the hacking of the Comelec website in March 2015 and for failing to properly disclose his SALN.

Bautista also announced his resignation on October 11, the same day the lower chamber voted for his impeachment.The impeachment trial then did not push through. 

The former Comelec chief was indicted by a US federal grand jury in Florida for allegedly taking bribes from a company that provided voting machines for the country's 2016 elections.

Maria Lourdes Sereno

On September 13, 2017, the House justice committee found Larry Gadon's impeachment complaint against former Chief Justice Maria Sereno as "sufficient in form and substance."

Three weeks later, on October 5, it also found sufficient grounds for the said complaint. To recall, Gadon accused Sereno of committing culpable violation of the Constitution; corruption; other high crimes; and betrayal of public trust.

The House justice committee began its hearings on the impeachment complaint on September 13. The said panel, by a vote of 38-2, found probable cause to continue with Sereno's impeachment at the Senate.

On March 19, House justice committee members, with a vote 33-1, approved the committee report and articles of impeachment, which were transmitted to the House rules committee to be scheduled for voting in the plenary.

Former Solicitor General Jose Calida filed a petition for quo warranto against her before the Supreme Court, questioning the validity of her appointment.

The SC then voted 8-6 on Calida’s quo warranto petition to remove Sereno from the post.—KG/AOL, GMA Integrated News