Francisco vs. House of Representatives NOV. 10, 2003

FRANCISCO VS.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOV. 10, 2003
Facts: On 28 November 2001, the 12th Congress of the House of Representatives adopted and approved
the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings, superseding the previous House Impeachment Rules
approved by the 11th Congress. On 22 July 2002, the House of Representatives adopted a Resolution,
which directed the Committee on Justice "to conduct an investigation, in aid of legislation, on the manner of
disbursements and expenditures by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Judiciary Development
Fund (JDF). On 2 June 2003, former President Joseph E. Estrada filed an impeachment complaint (first
impeachment complaint) against Chief Justice Hilario G.Davide Jr. and seven Associate Justices of the
Supreme Court for "culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of the public trust and other high crimes."
The complaint was endorsed by House Representatives, and was referred to the House Committee on
Justice on 5 August 2003 in accordance with Section 3(2) of Article XI of the Constitution.The House
Committee on Justice ruled on 13 October 2003 that the first impeachment complaint was "sufficient
inform," but voted to dismiss the same on 22 October 2003 for being insufficient in substance. Four months
and three weeks since the filing of the first complaint or on 23 October 2003, a day after the House
Committee on Justice voted to dismiss it, the second impeachment complaint was filed with the Secretary
General of the House by House Representatives against Chief Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr., founded on
the alleged results of the legislative inquiry initiated by above-mentioned House Resolution. The second
impeachment complaint was accompanied by a"Resolution of Endorsement/Impeachment" signed by at
least 1/3 of all the Members of the House of Representatives.Various petitions for certiorari, prohibition, and
mandamus were filed with the Supreme Court against the House of Representatives, et. al., most of which
petitions contend that the filing of the second impeachment complaint is unconstitutional as it violates the
provision of Section 5 of Article XI of the Constitution that "[n]o impeachment proceedings shall be initiated
against the same official more than once within a period of one year."
Issue: Whether the power of judicial review extends to those arising from impeachment proceedings.
Held: The Court's power of judicial review is conferred on the judicial branch of the government in Section
1, Article VIII of our present 1987 Constitution. The "moderating power" to "determine the proper allocation
of powers" of the different branches of government and "to direct the course of government along
constitutional channels" is inherent in all courts as a necessary consequence of the judicial power itself,
which is "the power of the court to settle actual controversies involving rights which are legally demandable
and enforceable." As indicated in Angara v. Electoral Commission, judicial review is indeed an integral
component of the delicate system of checks and balances which, together with the corollary principle of
separation of powers, forms the bedrock of our republican form of government and insures that its vast
powers are utilized only for the benefit of the people for which it serves. The separation of powers is a
fundamental principle in our system of government. It obtains not through express provision but by actual
division in our Constitution. Each department of the government has exclusive cognizance of matters within
its jurisdiction, and is supreme within its own sphere. But it does not follow from the fact that the three
powers are to be kept separate and distinct that the Constitution intended them to be absolutely
unrestrained and independent of each other. The Constitution has provided for an elaborate system of
checks and balances to secure coordination in the workings of the various departments of the government.
And the judiciary in turn, with the Supreme Court as the final arbiter,effectively checks the other
departments in the exercise of its power to determine the law, and hence to declare executive and
legislative acts void if violative of the Constitution.The major difference between the judicial power of the
Philippine Supreme Court and that of the U.S. Supreme Court is that while the power of judicial review is
only impliedly granted to the U.S. Supreme Court and is discretionary in nature,that granted to the
Philippine Supreme Court and lower courts, as expressly provided for in the Constitution, is not just a power
but also a duty, and it was given an expanded definition to include the power to correct any grave abuse of
discretion on the part of any government branch or instrumentality. There are also glaring distinctions
between the U.S.
Constitution and the Philippine Constitution with respect to the power of the House of Representatives over
impeachment proceedings. While the U.S. Constitution bestows sole power of impeachment to the House
of Representatives without limitation, our Constitution, though vesting in the House of Representatives the
exclusive power to initiate impeachment cases, provides for several limitations to the exercise of such
power as embodied in Section 3(2), (3), (4) and (5), Article XI thereof. These limitations include the manner
of filing, required vote to impeach,and the one year bar on the impeachment of one and the same official.
The people expressed their will when they instituted the above-mentioned safeguards in the Constitution.
This shows that the Constitution did not intend to leave the matter of impeachment to the sole discretion of
Congress. Instead, it provided for certain well-defined limits, or "judicially discoverable standards" for
determining the validity of the exercise of such discretion, through the power of judicial review. There is
indeed a plethora of cases in which this Court exercised the power of judicial review over congressional
action. Finally, there exists no constitutional basis for the contention that the exercise of judicial review over
impeachment proceedings would upset the system of checks and balances. Verily, the Constitution is to be
interpreted as a whole and "one section is not to be allowed to defeat another." Both are integral
components of the calibrated system of independence and interdependence that insures that no branch of
government act beyond the powers assigned to it by the Constitution.

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