Section 11 of Rule III of the House Rules on Impeachment regarding the disposition by the Plenary of the recommendation for dismissal of the impeachment complaint by the Committee on Justice presupposes that the recommendation is based on the insufficiency of the complaint, lack of sufficient grounds or absence of probable cause.

In the above cases, the rejection of the recommendation for dismissal triggers the preparation of the Articles of Impeachment by the Committee on Justice because the very substance of the complaint is effectively upheld by the requisite number of 1/3 of the Members.

However, when the recommendation for dismissal is due to insufficiency in form, which is rejected by at least 1/3 of the membership of the House, the plenary must perforce refer back the impeachment complaint to the Committee on Justice for further proceedings, unless meanwhile at least 1/3 of the House membership endorses the impeachment complaint or signs the articles of impeachment.

In the case of the impeachment complainant against COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista, what was voted upon and rejected was the Committee’s recommendation for dismissal based on insufficiency of form.

Verily, it is premature to require the Committee on Justice to prepare the Articles of Impeachment considering that there is no determination yet by the Committee on the substance and sufficiency of the complaint.

Since COMELEC Chairman Andres Bautista has resigned effective December 31, 2017, then any impeachment proceedings against him is unnecessary because the purpose of an impeachment is the ouster of the respondent.

Such ouster has already been preempted by Bautista’s resignation whose effective date will definitely occur before the termination of the impeachment process both in the House and in the Senate.

There is inordinate haste on the part of the Duterte administration to end the tenure of Bautista to enable the President to appoint his chosen Chairman of the Commission on Elections.

EDCEL C. LAGMAN