Speaker, Senate chief won’t defy SC on Merci By Gerry Baldo and Angie M. Rosales 09/16/2010

Impeach move off if Belmonte says so — Tupaz 

Speaker, Senate chief won’t defy SC on Merci

By Gerry Baldo and Angie M. Rosales
09/16/2010

The leadership of Congress used moral suasion yesterday to douse a brewing feud between the judiciary and the legislative over the status quo ante order of the Supreme Court suspending the impeachment proceedings against Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as both the Speaker and the Senate president tried to dissuade the House committee on justice from disregarding the order of the high court.

Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. both said the House committee must comply with the order of the Supreme Court stopping the impeachment proceedings even as panel chairman, Iloilo Rep. Neil Tupaz, remained defiant against the high court’s order.

Tupaz, however, said the House committee will suspend the impeachment proceedings “if it’s prevailed upon by the Speaker.” 

“We are all governed by the Constitution and the one that interprets the Constitution is the Supreme Court. Congress is not above the SC, it’s a co-equal branch and it coordinates. Although independent from the other two branches of government, it must coordinate its work with the two other branches of government,” Enrile told House reporters covering the presentation of the report of Social Watch Philippines (SWP) on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the Senate and House leaders..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/headlines/20100916hed1.html