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A Senator or a Member of the House of Representatives shall, in all offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment,

be privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session. No Member shall be questioned nor be held liable in any other place for any speech or debate in the Congress or in any committee thereof.

1. 2.

Privilege from arrest Privilege of speech and debate

Legislators are privileged from arrest while the Congress is in session with respect to offenses punishable by up to six years of imprisonment.

The accused-appellant, Romeo G. Jalosjos, is a full-fledged member of the House of Representatives. He has been convicted by the lower court for two counts of statutory rape ad six counts of acts of lasciviousness, but said judgment is pending appeal in the SC. Jalosjos now files a motion asking that he be allowed to fully discharge his duties as a congressman, including attending Congressional sessions and committee meetings, despite being convicted of a non-bailable offense.

His arguments: 1. Mandate of sovereign will

2. One of his functions is to attend sessions

SCs responses: 1. Jalosjos is convicted of a felony punishable by reclusion perpetua, thus he could not claim parliamentary immunity from suit 2. The members of the Congress cannot be compelled to attend session if the reason for the absence is a legitimate one

3. On several occasions, he was granted to leave prison premises for official, correctional and medical reasons

3. Emergency or compelling temporary leaves from imprisonment are allowed to all prisoners, at the discretion of the authorities or upon court orders. To allow him to attend sessions five days a week will virtually make him a free man

4. His constituents wanted their voices to be heard

4. He admitted that a.) he is provided with a congressional office in the Bilibid where he attends to his constituents, b.) under detention, he has filed resolutions and motions, and c.) he receives his salaries and benefits as a Congressman

5. He is a bona fide member of the House of Representatives. In effect, SC, as a coequal of Congress, should respect his mandate

5. Even under detention, accompanied with valid restraints, Jalosjos has been discharging his mandate

The performance of legitimate and even essential duties by public officers has never been an excuse to free a person validly in prison.

Petitioner Trillanes, along with his comrades, was charged with coup d etat for storming into the Oakwood. In 2007, he won a seat in the Senate. Before the commencement of his term, he filed an Omnibus Motion for Leave of Court to be Allowed to Attend Senate Sessions and Related Requests to the Makati RTC.

Jalosjos Already convicted Charged with two counts of statutory rape and six counts of acts of lasciviousness, crimes involving moral turpitude Attempted to flee

Trillanes Has not been convicted Charged with the offense coup d etat, a charge commonly regarded as a political offense

Voluntarily surrendered

The said distinctions were not elemental in the pronouncement in Jalosjos that election to Congress is not a reasonable classification in criminal law enforcement as the functions and duties of officers are not substantial distinctions which lift one from the class of prisoners interrupted in their freedom and restricted in their liberty of movement

All persons, except those charged with offenses punishable by reclusion perpetua when evidence of guilt is strong, shall before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, or be released on recognizance as may be provided by law. The right to bail shall not be impaired even when the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus is suspended. - Art. III, Sec. 13

Equally applicable to rape and coup d etat cases, both being punishable by reclusion perpetua

The rationale of public self-defense applies equally to detention prisoners and convicted prisoners All prisoners whether under preventive detention or serving final sentence can not practice their profession nor engage in any business or occupation, or hold office, elective or appointive, while in detention. This is a necessary consequence of arrest and detention (People v. Hon. Maceda)

In his contention that his election provides the legal justification to allow him to serve his mandate, after the people, in their sovereign capacity, elected him as Senator, his electoral victory only signifies that when the voters elected him to the Senate, they did so with full awareness of the limitations on his freedom of actions, with knowledge that he could achieve only such legislative results which he could accomplish within the confines of prison.

The performance of legitimate and even essential duties by public officers has never been an excuse to free a person validly in prison.

No member shall be questioned or held liable in any forum other than his/her respective Congressional body for any debate or speech in Congress or in any committee thereof

Protection is only against forum other than the Congress itself. The speech or debate must be made in performance of their duties as members of Congress .

The remarks must be made while the legislature of the legislative committee is functioning, that is in session That they must be made in connection with the discharge of official duties

is to enable and encourage a representative of the public to discharge his public trust with firmness and success for it is indispensably necessary that he should enjoy the fullest liberty of speech and that he should be protected from resentment of every one, however, powerful, to whom the exercise of that liberty may occasion offense. (Osmea, Jr. v. Pendatun)

x x x I am not angry. I am irate. I am foaming in the mouth. I am homicidal. I am suicidal. I am humiliated, debased, degraded. And I am not only that, I feel like throwing up to be living my middle years in a country of this nature. I am nauseated. I spit on the face of Chief Justice Artemio Panganiban and his cohorts in the Supreme Court, I am no longer interested in the position [of Chief Justice] if I was to be surrounded by idiots. I would rather be in another environment but not in the Supreme Court of idiots x x x.

Courts do not interfere with the legislature or its members in the manner they perform their functions in the legislative floor or in committee rooms. Her privilege speech as not actionable criminally or in a disciplinary proceeding under the Rules of Court

Even parliamentary immunity must not be allowed to be used as a vehicle to ridicule, demean, and destroy the reputation of the Court and its magistrates, nor as an armor for personal wrath and disgust.

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