MA. MERCEDITAS N.

GUTIERREZ Versus THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE. Et AL,, 
https://lawphil.net/judjuris/juri2011/feb2011/gr_193459_2011.html

FACTS:
Baraquel Group filed an impeachment complaint against petitioner, upon endorsement of
Party-List Representatives Bag-ao and Bello. Reyes Group also filed an impeachment complaint
against petitioner with the endorsement of Party-List Representatives Colmenares, Casiño,
Mariano, Ilagan, Tinio and de Jesus. On even date, the House of Representatives provisionally
adopted the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the 14th Congress.
During its plenary session the House of Representatives referred both complaints to
public respondent simultaneously. After hearing, public respondent made Resolution of
September 1, 2010, finding both complaints to be sufficient in form. On September 2, the Rules
of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the 15th Congress was published.
Petitioner filed a motion for reconsideration for the Sept. 1, 2010 Resolution, but was
denied by public respondent for prematurity. Petitioner was advised to await the notice for her to
file answers the complaints, drawing petitioner to furnish a copy of her motion to each member
of the House.
The House, after hearing, made Resolution of September 7, 2010, finding the two
complaints against petitioner to be sufficient in substance. Petitioner reckons the start of the one-
year bar from the filing of the first impeachment complaint against her on July 22, 2010 or four
days before the opening on July 26, 2010 of the 15th Congress. She posits that within one year
from July 22, 2010, no second impeachment complaint may be accepted and referred to public
respondent.

ISSUE:
Whether the simultaneous referral of the two complaints violated the Constitution

HELD: NO.
Article XI, Section 3, paragraph (5) of the Constitution reads: “No impeachment
proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one
year.” From the records of the Constitutional Commission, the term "to initiate" refers to the
filing of the impeachment complaint coupled with Congress' taking initial action of said
complaint. “Initiation” takes place by the act of filing and referral or endorsement of the
impeachment complaint to the House Committee on Justice.
 Despite to petitioner’s emphasis on impeachment complaint, what the Constitution
mentions is impeachment "proceedings." Her reliance on the singular tense of the word
"complaint" to denote the limit prescribed by the Constitution goes against the basic rule of
statutory construction that a word covers its enlarged and plural sense.