At A Glance
- The Senate will decide on Aug. 6 on whether or not to proceed with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, following the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling that declared the impeachment complaint unconstitutional.
The Senate will decide on Aug. 6 on whether or not to proceed with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, following the recent Supreme Court (SC) ruling that declared the impeachment complaint unconstitutional.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero announced on Tuesday, July 29 that the chamber, during a caucus, agreed to set a specific date to deliberate on the matter. The move, he said, is intended to give senators sufficient time to study the SC’s 97-page decision, along with the concurring and separate opinions filed by five or six justices.
“To set on a date certain the disposition of the matter pertaining to the [SC] decision in relation to the impeachment complaint of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte," he said.
"For the record, it was agreed in caucus that the matter will be decided upon by the Senate on Aug. 6, 2025,” he added.
The decision to defer action until the session resumes next week aims to ensure a thorough and informed review of the high court’s ruling before the Senate takes any definitive stance.
According to Senate Minority Leader Vicente "Tito" Sotto III, he was the one who suggested the date.
Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri said that a senator was supposedly going to make a motion to have the impeachment complaint dismissed, but he refused to name the senator.
In a press conference, Escudero said that personally, his position as a lawyer was this: the SC has made a decision—whether they agree with it or not, it must be followed.
"If not, we could end up in a constitutional crisis, and we might be seen by our neighboring countries and others as a banana republic where we only follow what we want," he said.