BACKGROUND: Philippine impeachment process

Jan 16, 2012, 6:59 GMT

Manila - The Philippine Senate began the first-ever impeachment trial against a chief justice of the Supreme Court for alleged bias and corruption Monday.

Impeachment is the only legal process by which a member of the Supreme Court can be removed from office.

Other public officials that may be impeached are the president, vice president, members of constitutional commissions and the ombudsman.

The Philippine process follows the US procedure, where the House of Representatives has the exclusive power to initiate impeachment and the Senate the sole power to rule on cases.

The constitution identifies two impeachment procedures: a complaint lodged by a House member or any citizen with the backing of a congressional representative, or a resolution filed by at least one-third of all members of the House.

An individual complaint must be investigated and evaluated by the House's Committee on Justice, which has 60 days to determine if there is probable cause and send the case to the plenary for a vote.

The House has 10 days to act on the committee's recommendation and vote on the complaint. An at least two-thirds majority is needed to begin impeachment proceedings.

A complaint brought by at least one-third of the House members is immediately transmitted to the Senate.

In the case against Chief Justice Renato Corona, 188 of 287 members signed the complaint on December 12, impeaching him without an investigation.

Corona has challenged the haste in which the members signed the complaint, and asked the Senate to hold a pre-trial investigation to verify if all those who voted against him were aware of the charges.

Analysts said the Senate impeachment trial could last three months or longer. The constitution does not set a deadline for the hearings to be completed.

A vote of two-thirds of the current 23 senators would be needed to convict Corona. The chief justice would then be removed from his post and barred from holding any public office in the Philippines.