Vice President Sara Duterte, through her legal counsel, has asked for the dismissal of the fourth impeachment complaint filed against her, arguing that it violates the 1987 Constitution's one-year bar on multiple impeachment proceedings against the same official.

In her formal Answer Ad Cautelam submitted to the Senate impeachment court, Duterte's camp asserted that the complaint is void ab initio due to non-compliance with Section 3 (5), Article XI of the Constitution. This provision strictly prohibits the initiation of more than one impeachment proceeding against the same public official within a 12-month period.

The House of Representatives received a copy of Duterte's answer ad cautelam at 3:53 p.m. The document was delivered by Arnel Barrientos Jr., a messenger from the law firm Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar. He arrived in the Senate at 5:49 p.m.

“Vice President Sara Z. Duterte by counsel, without waiving any jurisdictional and/or other objections she has to the case and the Fourth Impeachment Complaint, respectfully states the Fourth Impeachment Complaint must be dismissed because it is void ab initio for violating the One-Year Bar Rule under Section 3 (5) Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, which explicitly prohibits the initiation of more than one (1) impeachment proceeding against the same official within a period of one (1) year,” the document read.

Senate Impeachment Court spokesperson Atty. Regie Tongol has explained that when a lawyer includes ad cautelam in their pleading, it almost always means they’re preparing to question the court’s jurisdiction, which he believes aligns with the petition the Vice President filed before the Supreme Court (SC), challenging the continuation of the impeachment process against her.

Tongol said that the vice president’s camp would either file a motion to dismiss the impeachment complaint against her or an answer with affirmative defense.

Senate Secretary and impeachment clerk of court Renato Bantug, said that the answer ad cautelam means that Duterte's camp is filing the pleading with caution.

“Maybe in their minds, they like to reserve some arguments but in compliance with the order of the court [ay] nag file sila ng answer but they are expressing that they're doing so with caution,” he added.

Duterte has a pending petition for certiorari and prohibition before the SC. To recall, Duterte sought the nullification, for alleged constitutional violation, of the impeachment complaints filed against her by the House of Representatives before the Senate for trial.

In her petition, Duterte asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) to stop the House from proceeding with the impeachment trial and for the Senate to desist from acting on the complaints.