Binay immune from criminal suit but not from impeachment
Binay immune from criminal suit but not from impeachment
By Atty. Romulo B. Macalintal
Immunity from suit of the President, Vice-President and other constitutional officials is not provided for in our constitution nor in any existing law. It is a mere tradition. Thus, if the President is immune from suit while in office, the same privilege could be extended to Vice-President Jejomar Binay considering that the Office of the Vice-President is regarded as a component of the Executive Department of the government.
However, such immunity from suit does not immune them from investigation to be conducted by the Ombudsman to determine if there are grounds for their impeachment which could be submitted to the House of Representatives which has jurisdiction over impeachment cases. In other words, a criminal case will not prosper because it carries with it the penalty of removal from public office which will violate the constitutional provision that these officials could only be removed by impeachment.
This is in line with Section 2, Article XI of the Constitution which mandates, among others, that constitutional officers, may be removed from office only by impeachment.
As early as in 1984 in Lecaroz vs Sandiganbayan, it has been the consistent ruling of the Supreme Court that the said provision of the constitution “proscribes removal from office of the aforementioned constitutional officers by any other method; otherwise, to allow a public officer who may be removed solely by impeachment to be charged criminally while holding his office, would be violative of the clear mandate of the fundamental law.”
In 1988 when a complaint for disbarment was filed against former Chief Justice Marcelo Fernan, the court dismissed the said complaint not only because it was baseless but also applied the Lecaroz ruling that to disbar Fernan would be violative of the constitutional provision that a constitutional officer, like a member of the Supreme Court, could only be removed by impeachment. The Court further ruled that in similar cases, the “fiscal or other prosecuting officer should forthwith and motu proprio dismiss any charges brought against a Member of this Court. The remedy of a person with a legitimate grievance is to file impeachment proceedings.”
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