MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court’s intervention in the impeachment case involving Vice President Sara Duterte would define the extent of judicial power under the Constitution, former Senate president Franklin Drilon said.
He made the remark on Saturday during the launch of his memoir "Being Frank" at the University of the Philippines College of Law’s alumni weekend.
He said the case would help determine how far the Supreme Court may step into impeachment proceedings, which he described as a political process assigned to Congress.
The high tribunal's intervention on Duterte's impeachment "presents an interesting study on the limits of the court’s intervention on what is known or considered as a political question,” Drilon said.
“To what extent the Supreme Court will invoke its constitutional power to correct grave abuse of discretion in the political process involving the impeachment of Vice President Duterte will be an interesting study for all of us,” he said.
“We hope that the Supreme Court will come out with a decision which should be generally accepted as a basis for our legal system,” Drilon added.
Drilon, who sat as a senator-judge in two impeachment trials during his 24-year career in the Senate, said the case would help define the extent to which the court may use its power to correct grave abuse of discretion in an impeachment case.
Being Frank traces Drilon’s decades in public life, including his years as labor secretary, justice secretary, executive secretary, senator and Senate president, offering personal reflections on some of the most consequential political episodes in recent Philippine history.
