The Supreme Court (SC) was asked on Wednesday, June 11, to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) that would stop the Senate from proceeding with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The supplemental petition was filed even as the Senate had decided to remand to the House of Representatives the impeachment articles against the Vice President.

A lawyers group led by Israelito Torreon asked the SC’s intervention on the constitutional issues involving the impeachment.

The group cited new and “critical” developments in the impeachment proceedings before the Senate.

It pointed out the decision of the Senate to finally convene as impeachment court after the senators led by Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero took their oaths as senate-judges despite constitutional questions about jurisdiction, continuity of proceedings from the 19th Congress to the 20th Congress and on the interpretation of the word “forthwith” in the constitutional provision on the conduct of impeachment proceedings before the Senate.         

Thus, they stressed, it is now time for the SC to intervene on the issue to prevent any branch of the government from acting beyond what is mandated under the Constitution.   

 “These cases, taken together, clearly establish that this Honorable Court has the authority to issue a TRO to prevent the unconstitutional abuse of impeachment proceedings,” the group told the SC.

It said the SC should rule on the grave abuse of discretion on the part of the House of Representatives in transmitting the Articles of impeachment to the Senate.  

 “The presence of constitutionally imposed limits on the power of Congress -- such as the requirement for proper deliberation, verification process, adherence to internal rules, and the one-year bar for impeachment complaints—means that courts must not abdicate their role in ensuring these limits are observed,” the petitioners said.      

At the same time, they pointed out that the Senate can no longer function as an impeachment court once the 19th Congress ends on June 30, 2025.   

“Any attempt by the 20th Congress to pick up and resume a trial left unresolved by the 19th Congress is an unconstitutional usurpation of jurisdiction, violating the principle of legislative discontinuity and undermining the integrity of the impeachment process,” they alleged.     

“To permit the 20th Congress to resume the trial would be to allow a new Senate -- composed partly of new members who did not receive or deliberate on the articles -- to adjudicate a case for which they were constitutionally convened,” they claimed.      

In their original petition, Torreon with lawyers Martin Delgra III, James Reserva, and Hillary Olga Reserva asked the SC to stop the Senate from holding impeachment proceedings which, they claimed, are based on defective Articles of Impeachment.         

They alleged that the impeachment complaint failed to meet constitutional requirements on verification and proper initiation of impeachment proceedings and for failure to accord due process to Duterte prior to its filing with the Senate.         

They also alleged that the fourth impeachment complaint signed by 215 members of the House against the Vice President Duterte did not contain verification as mandated under Section 3, Rule II of the House Rules on Impeachment.

The rule, they said, mandates that an impeachment complaint must be “verified by an affidavit that the complainant has read the complaint and that the allegations therein are true and correct on his personal knowledge or based on authentic records.”        

Thus, they pointed out that the mere signing by the 215 House members does not constitute proper verification.         

Last January 19, Vice President Duterte also filed her own petition against the impeachment complaint filed against her.

Among other legal issues, Duterte said the complaint violated the "One-Year Bar" under Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution which states that no impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.    

The Vice President also sought the issuance of a TRO from the SC as she claimed that the impeachment complaint against her is “politically-motivated.”    

Acting on the petition Duterte and the group of Torreon filed, the SC required the House of Representatives and the Senate to file their comments.

The two petitions and those filed by high school teacher Barry Tayam and former Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) special government counsel Catalino Generillo Jr. are still pending resolution.

The SC is now on its month-long decision-writing period and does not hold sessions. It will resume sessions on July 1.