House leaders have expressed confidence that the Supreme Court (SC) will uphold the legality of the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Deputy Majority Leader and La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V said Saturday, March 8, that the House of Representatives (HOR) followed due process in filing the impeachment complaint.

"Confidently, I can say na wala pong nilabag ang HOR o kung anuman ang nababato or minsan nga parang counter na lang ‘yun eh, para lang may, ma-delay po yung mga proceedings (Confidently, I can say that the HOR did not violate anything. Sometimes, they are just throwing out something to delay the proceedings),” Ortega said.

He denied claims that the House committed any procedural violations, and stressed that any legal challenge to the impeachment is merely a delaying tactic.

House Assistant Majority Leader and Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun echoed Ortega's sentiment and stressed that the impeachment process was carried out with full adherence to legal requirements and constitutional guidelines.

"Siyempre, we leave it up to the decision ng ating Sec Gen (Of course, we leave it up to the decision of the House Secretary General)," Khonghun said when asked if the House responded to the SC.

Khonghun also pointed out that the legal maneuvering from the Vice President’s camp appeared to be a deliberate effort to stall the impeachment process.

“Tingin ko isa rin ito sa mga delaying tactics ng kampo ng ating Bise-Presidente (I think it's only one of the delaying tactics of the camp of the Vice President),” he said.

Ortega then recalled how Duterte previously challenged her critics to impeach her, only for her camp to later raise legal questions against the process.

"Tapos ‘yung mga presscon po nung ng ating Bise Presidente, sinasabi nga niya po na i-impeach niyo na lang ako para I can defend myself para malagay po sa tamang ah ang tawag dito mailagay po sa tamang konteksto para mapagtanggol nya ang sarili nya (During the Vice President's press conference, she was saying that she could defend herself just to put the things straight)," Ortega said.

"Pero here comes the impeachment pero nagsa-submit lang sila ng kanilang katanungan at ah may kaukulang pagharang po sa sa mismong impeachment proceedings (But here comes the impeachment and they're now questioning the impeachment proceedings)," he added.