Petition Tag - philippines impeachment

Preamble

During the recent impeachment trial of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines, we witnessed the ambiguities of competing laws enacted by the legislative bodies against those laws enshrined in the Constitution regarding pesos and foreign account deposits.

Although, there is already a waiver in favor of the Office of the Ombudsman provided for in the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN), however, its limitation because of the strict confidentiality of foreign account deposits, was understood even by those among us, not versed in the legal complexities of the on-going trial.

The limitation of the SALN waiver has been further validated when after the impeachment trial, the:

1) Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) found it necessary to avail of the WAIVER voluntarily submitted to the Impeachment Court by the defendant

2) the Constitutional body convened for the purpose of vetting the name of applicants to the vacant position of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, added the submission of the WAIVER in addition to the SALN as a new requirement

Furthermore, our research at the online archives of the Senate reveals the unsucessful passage of legislative bills introduced religiously since 2001 to compel the submission of WAIVER. Senators Lacson, Escudero and the bill co-sponsors believe that the WAIVER is a necessary tool to fight the endemic graft and corruption in the Philippines.

We, therefore, humbly submit this petition.

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