MEMBERS of Congress, unlike heads of the Executive, Judiciary, and constitutional offices, could not be removed from office through the constitutionally ordained process called impeachment. Although lawmakers serve either as judges or prosecutors in the impeachment process, they are not exactly invincible. Other mechanisms exist to which they are vulnerable. Lawmakers could be still subject to certain checks.
One of the mechanisms is disbarment for lawyers, who are members of Congress. The shame and scandal of lawyer-lawmakers, wh are being disbarred either by the Supreme Court or the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), the nation’s premier organization of lawyers, could be most telling. Lawyers do not want to be disbarred because it could mean deprivation of an essential means to earn a living.
Critics claimed a group of lawyers among them have been building a disbarment case against Tricky Tsis for his manipulative ways to enable Misfit Sara to escape the public trial arising from the Articles of Impeachment, which 240 members of the House of Representatives have signed and submitted to the Senate on Feb. 5. For almost five months, Tricky Tsis did not act on it, citing a host of reasons to derail any official action to the Articles.
Essentially, Tricky Tsis’s gameplan has been to prevent the Senate to hold any public trial on Misfit Sara because a trial will open a can of worms on her wrongdoings. By doing those manipulative means to escape trial for an impeachable public official, Tricky Tsis has laid down what could be called obstruction to justice.
Tricky Tsis stands accused of obstruction to justice and his critics, who are lawyers, are working for his disbarment. A lawyer is an officer of the court and an officer of court is mandated by his sworn duty to uphold duty at all times. Protecting Misfit Sara obstructs justice and this is the fundamental reason for his disbarment, an lawyer familiar with disbarment issues said.
A certain netizen named Joe de Jesus (we don’t know him personally and we have no way to ascertain if he is a true person) wrote in a post in Meta social networking site, alleging that Tricky Tsis committed he described as “serious violations of legal ethics and constitutional duties” during the impeachment proceedings against the Misfit.
De Jesus claimed Tricky Tsis acted above the 1987 Constitution, when he “publicly asserted that the Senate can act however it pleases in the impeachment process because it holds power.” He said: “This reveals a dangerous belief that the Senate is not bound by the Constitution – an affront to democratic accountability.”
Moreover, de Jesus claimed Tricky Tsis “distorted” legal definitions by claiming he did not understand “forthwith” to delay the impeachment trial. He said: “This deliberate misrepresentation of settled language constitutes dishonesty and deception.”
De Jesus cited five more reasons why Tricky Tsis should be disbarred. Foremost among them were his claims that Tricky Tsis undermined the authority of the House of Representatives and he allowed illegal motions to dismiss the Articles.
De Jesus said: “By promoting the rewriting or reformatting of the Articles of Impeachment, Escudero usurped the exclusive power of the House of Representatives to prosecute the case – a constitutional overreach.”
De Jesus added: “He entertained and prolonged discussions on motions to dismiss the Articles of Impeachment – motions that have no place once the trial phase is triggered. These actions were not only improper, but constitutionally prohibited.”
His parting words: These actions violate the Lawyer’s Oath and multiple provisions of the Code of Professional Responsibility and Accountability. The complaint must seek Escudero’s disbarment for gross misconduct and betrayal of public trust.”
***
WHAT was billed to be a battle of spokesmen was turning out to be a dud, a mismatch. While lawyer Antonio Bucoy sounded knowledgeable and skillful as the newly named spokesman of the House of Representatives in the impeachment trial of Misfit Sara, Reginald Tongol, another lawyer, was awful as he sounded as a mere mouthpiece of Tricky Tsis, as the spokesman aired the perverse legal theories of Tricky Tsis.
Bucoy is the institutional spokesman of the House of Representatives, while Tongol serves as the spokesman of the presiding officer of the Senate as the impeachment court, who is now widely criticized and discredited for his erratic and unconstitutional legal theories on the Senate’s job as an impeachment court.
Bucoy serves as the spokesman of the essentially 11-man House contingent, who will prosecute the Misfit in the trial the Senate will hold as an impeachment court. Tongol’s role is largely and still undefined when the Senate does its job as the impeachment court. For the meantime, he is the spokesman of Trickly Tsis, as he takes extra efforts to explain his discredited legal theories, including the alleged Senate’s supremacy over the House on impeachment issue.
