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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider SC may tackle on Feb. 25 VP Duterte's petition vs her impeachment

SC may tackle on Feb. 25 VP Duterte's petition vs her impeachment

Published Feb 24, 2025 06:22 am

The Supreme Court (SC) is expected to tackle on Tuesday, Feb. 25, the petition of Vice President Sara Duterte who sought the nullification, for alleged constitutional violation, of the impeachment complaints filed against her by the House of Representatives before the Senate for trial.

VP Duterte’s petition which was filed last Feb. 18 was raffled on Monday, Feb. 24, for the justice-in-charge of the case.

Also expected to be tackled during the SC’s full court session is the petition filed by Mindanao lawyers and residents against the impeachment which was alleged as “null and void.”

The SC may require the House of Representatives and the Senate – the respondents -- to comment on the two petitions.

It may also consolidate the two petitions with the other petition which sought the immediate Senate trial of the verified impeachment complaints. 

Legal quarters believe “it is not unlikely” that the SC will conduct oral arguments on the petitions involving the impeachment issues.

The six major allegations contained in the seven articles of impeachment against Duterte are conspiracy to assassinate President Marcos; malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds; bribery and corruption in Department of Education (DepEd); unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; involvement in extrajudicial killings (Davao Death Squad); and destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder.

In her petition, which was filed on Tuesday, Feb. 18, through the Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law offices, VP 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.

The Vice President also asked the SC that “after proper proceedings, issue a final injunction, nullify and set aside the Fourth Impeachment Complaint filed on February 5, 2025, declare the One-Year Bar to be applicable from the filing of the First Impeachment Complaint, declare the Fourth Impeachment Complaint to be violative of the One-Year Bar under Section 3(5), Article XI of the Constitution and therefore prohibited, and consequently, enjoin respondent Senate or any of its members or representatives from acting on the Fourth Impeachment Complaint in any way.”

Earlier, the SC had acted by requiring comment on the petition filed by lawyer Catalino Aldea Generillo Jr. who cited Section 3(4) of Article XI of the Constitution which states: “In case the verified complaint or resolution of impeachment is filed by at least one-third of all the Members of the House, the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”

Generillo told the SC that the meanings of “forthwith” in Oxford Dictionary are “immediately,” “at once,” “instantly,” “directly,” “right away,” “straight away,” “now,” “instantaneously,” and “without delay.”

Also, several Mindanao lawyers and residents have asked SC to stop the Senate from conducting the impeachment trial of VP Durterte and to declare the Articles of Impeachment “null and void.”

In a petition, they told the SC the Articles of Impeachment were null and void “for failure to meet constitutional requirements on verification and proper initiation of impeachment proceedings and for failure to accord due process to Vice-President Duterte prior to the filing with the Senate….”

They asked the SC to issue immediately a TRO or a writ of preliminary injunction to stop the Senate from conducting impeachment proceedings “based on the defective Articles of Impeachment.”

Among her arguments, VP Duterte told the SC:

“The House of Representatives and its members deliberately circumvented the One-Year Bar by directing its Secretary General to allegedly ‘give them more time’ to file the Fourth Impeachment Complaint, despite the fact that three prior separate impeachment complaints had been filed on Dec. 2, 2024, Dec. 4, 2024, and Dec.19, 2024, respectively.

“The reason for awaiting the Fourth Impeachment Complaint is not a secret -- to allow the House of Representatives and its members to gather the required number of signatures to railroad the impeachment process, in order to beat the May 12, 2025 elections, which they know results in a change in the composition of Congress, thus making it more difficult to get support for the petitioner's impeachment.

“Unfortunately, this political stratagem was done at the expense of constitutional standards that respondents, as public officers, are mandated to observe, with the ultimate goal of having the petitioner perpetually disqualified from running for any national elective office in the future.

“Under the House of Representatives Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings adopted on May 30, 2023 and published on June 2, 2023, impeachment proceedings can be initiated in three ways: a verified complaint for impeachment filed by any member of the House of Representatives; a verified complaint filed by any citizen upon a resolution of endorsement by any member of the House of Representatives; or a verified complaint or resolution of impeachment filed by at least 1/3 of all the Members of the House.”

“The first two modes involve a procedure that takes time before the impeachment complaint can be referred to the Senate for trial, while the third mode, which is how the Fourth Impeachment Complaint was made possible by the respondents, could be endorsed to the Senate in as quick as in a day, since the same shall constitute the Articles of Impeachment, which shall be endorsed to the Senate pursuant to Section 14, Rule IV of the House Rules on Impeachment….

“Unfortunately, by directing the respondent House Secretary General to freeze the first three impeachment complaints to make way for the Fourth Impeachment Complaint, which was filed around a month or two after, the House of Representatives committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction by circumventing and violating the One-Year Bar set by no less than the Constitution.”

The first three impeachment complaints cited by VP Duterte in her petition were those filed by Akbayan Citizen’s Action Party Rep. Percivl Cendana, Makabayan Koalisyon ng Mamamayan Rep. France L. Castro, and Ang Asosasyon San Mangunguma Nga Bisaya OWA Mangunguma, Inc. 

 

 

 

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