Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo “Ping” Lacson said on Friday, January 30 that the  Supreme Court's ruling on the unconstitutionality of Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment case must be accepted and respected.

“Agree or disagree, right or wrong, just or unjust, faultless or defective - we must accept and respect the SC ruling on the unconstitutionality of VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment case,” Lacson said on his X account.

“They are not called the 'gods of Padre Faura' for nothing," he said.

Lacson insisted it is a matter of respecting the rule of law, saying his sentiment would have been the same even if the high court ruled otherwise.

“This is not about politics or who gains or loses. If the SC ruling went the other way, my sentiment would be the same. Simply put, it is about respecting the rule of law,” he added.

Lacson pointed this out a day after the SC denied with finality the House of Representatives' appeal to reverse its ruling last July 25, which declared unconstitutional the Articles of Impeachment against the vice president.

SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting was quoted as saying that the High Court voted to uphold that the fourth impeachment complaint against the Vice President was covered by the one-year bar rule where impeachment proceedings cannot be initiated against the same official more than once within one year.

Earlier, Lacson pointed out that the rule of law may end up as the biggest loser if the High Court's decision on the impeachment case is not followed.

“My view is that the High Court is the final arbiter and interpreter of the Constitution. We can expect no interpretation of the law other than the Supreme Court,” he said.

Following the SC’s decision, Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III lamented the SC decision saying the ruling is “a sad day for Constitutional Law students and professors.

“The Constitution had just been amended unconstitutionally through Supreme Court overreach. It will take decades of retirements to correct this misinterpretation. When the law is clear, there is nothing to interpret, as any first year law student knows,” Sotto had said.

For Sotto, the decision is a clear judicial legislation and that the SC clearly encroached on the power of the legislative branch, as provided by the Constitution.