Vice President Sara Duterte (PPAB)

The House prosecution team in Vice President Sara Duterte's upcoming impeachment trial has filed its first formal pleading before the Senate Impeachment Court in the form of an "Entry with Motion to Issue Summons" for the lady official.

House Minority Leader 4Ps Party-list Rep. Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, both members of the 11-man House prosecution panel in the impeachment case of Vice President Duterte led the filing of entry of appearance with a motion to issue summons on Tuesday, March 25 at the Senate in Pasay City.

Deputy Majority Leader La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V and Assistant Majority Leader Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun accompanied the prosecution team members in what can be described as a yet another chess move.

The summons effectively directs Vice President Duterte--who is at The Netherlands--to file her answer to the impeachment complaint transmitted by the House of Representatives last Feb 5 to the Senate.

It should be noted that based on the Senate's schedule, the impeachment trial will begin after President Marcos' State of the Nation Address (SONA) in July, in the 20th Congress. But nothing stops the prosecution from filing such pleadings, which is all part of the pre-trial process.

In their pleading Tuesday, the House panel requested that “the Honorable Senate President be requested to cause the issuance of a writ of summons addressed to Respondent Vice President Sara Z. Duterte” to compel her to submit a verified Answer “within ten (10) calendar days from receipt of the summons, pursuant to Section 3, Rule VI of the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trial".

The move, according to the solon-prosecutors is a critical step to compel the Vice President to respond to the articles of impeachment, and to avoid unnecessary delays in the conduct of the impeachment trial.

There are seven articles of Impeachment against Vice President Duterte, who was impeached by the 300-plus strong House of Representatives last Feb. 5 or just before the ongoing legislative recess.

The Vice President is acting as the spokesperson of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently incarcerated at the International Criminal Court at The Hague in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity. 

House Minority Leader Marcelino “Nonoy” Libanan (2nd from right) and 1-Rider Party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez (leftmost), members of the 11-man House prosecution panel in the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte lead the filing of entry of appearance with a motion to issue summons at the Senate on Tuesday (March 25, 2025). Also in photo are Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. (center), House Deputy Majority Leader Paolo Ortega V of La Union (rightmost) and House Assistant Majority Leader Jay Khonghun of Zambales (2nd frofrom left).

The seven articles of impeachment against Vice Duterte, as indicated in the impeachment complaint, are as follows:

Article 1: Conspiracy to assassinate President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez; 

Article 2: Malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds;

Article 3: Bribery and corruption in Department of Education (DepEd);

Article 4: Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; 

Article 5: Involvement in extrajudicial killings (EJK);

Article 6: Destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder; and

Article 7: The totality of respondent's conduct as Vice President.

Legally sound 

The solons justified the filing of the pleading in a subsequent press conference at the House of Representatives.

“The prosecution has collectively taken the stand that given the Constitution says that the trial under the Senate will proceed immediately forthwith, we are of the opinion that legally sound naman ang aming motion (our motion is legally sound),” said Gutierrez. 

He acknowledged that the Senate may choose to take a different route, given that Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said it would refer the motion to the Senate’s legal department. 

“However, we do understand that the good Senate President might have a differing opinion and thus we would understand the reason for them to refer it to their legal team. But we remain confident that our submission is in line with our legal theory,” Gutierrez said.