House Secretary General Reginald Velasco (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)

The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG)--the principal law officer and legal defender of the Republic of the Philippines--is acting as the counsel of the House of Representatives against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Supreme Court (SC).

This was bared by House Secretary General Reginald Velasco in a statement sent to reporters on Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 26.

"The Supreme Court announced yesterday (Tuesday) that the House of Representatives was directed to comment on the petition filed by Vice President Sara Duterte seeking to nullify the fourth impeachment complaint filed against her," Velasco said.

"The Office of the Solicitor General is the counsel of the House of Representatives in this case. This matter has been referred to the Solicitor General," he added.

The incumbent Solicitor General is lawyer Menardo Guevarra, a former Department of Justice (DOJ) secretary. 

The fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte was ultimately the one that was directly submitted to the Senate by Velasco in behalf of the House last Feb. 5.

Deemed as the best impeachment complaint among the four, the document was signed by 215 out of the 306 sitting House members. The sheer number of solon-signatories allowed this direct transmittal from the lower chamber to the upper chamber.

The Vice President--despite pronouncements that she was ready to face trial in the Senate--recently challenged the legality of this complaint before the SC.

The three other impeachment complaints--all filed in December 2024--ended up being archived by the House.