The Senate will strictly enforce the “sub judice” rule when it conducts the impeachment trial of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno, Senate President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said in an interview before the chamber went on its Holy Week recess.
The “sub judice” rule in the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials mandates that while the Senate trial must be open to the public at all times, the senator-judges, prosecutors, defense lawyers, witnesses, and the person impeached “must refrain from making any comments and disclosures in public pertaining to the merits of the pending impeachment trial,” Senate President Pimentel said. “You can announce to the public what happened but not the weight of the evidence and say that it will convince the court.”
The senators, he said, will be banned from commenting before the media on the merits of the case. The Senate will designate a spokesman who will officially report on the proceedings.
It is good that the Senate is now planning for the coming impeachment trial and laying down the rules. The ban on airing of opinions is specially welcome, after all the disclosures and comments we have been hearing in the last five months that the Sereno case has been in the House of Representatives.
All these months, those who filed the impeachment complaints have been freely airing their views in public forums, along with congressmen, members of the House Committee on Justice, who have repeatedly declared they have a strong case against the chief justice. The committee held so many televised hearings before it approved the impeachment complaints, but the House itself has yet to approve the case in plenary session and send it to the Senate for trial.
While impeachment cases are more political than judicial in nature, Chief Justice Sereno looks forward to a fair trial in the Senate. The proceedings are bound to be close to court practices. And the “sub judice” rule will restrain everyone from coming out with half-baked opinions. Whatever the final decision, we are certain it will be well accepted by the people.
