CHIEF Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday said Vice President Sara Duterte could seek public office in 2028, without worries, if she resigns from her current position.
The Vice President is seen seeking the presidency in 2028.
“If she resigns, she can run again,” Enrile said in an interview with Radyo Pilipinas during which he was asked if the Vice President could still run if she resigns in the middle of an impeachment trial. He discussed the case of former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez who resigned just days before her impeachment trial was to start.
Enrile said if Duterte resigns, the impeachment complaint against her would be halted and concluded.
“If Sara resigns, there will be no more impeachment because the purpose of impeachment is to remove and nothing more, to remove the impeached official. Once she’s out of office, the impeachment is finished,” he said in mixed Filipino and English.
He declined to further discuss or answer questions about the impeachment complaint against the Vice President, saying a case is pending at the Supreme Court.
The Vice President has filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition to block the impeachment complaint against her.
A member of the House panel of prosecutors, Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora, said a resignation by a impeached official does not conclude the process, as the Senate can continue the trial to determine disqualification from future public office.
“Because there is a separate consequence of disqualification from holding another public office or any public office in the future, it does not end with the resignation of an impeached or an impeachable official. The trial may proceed so we can determine if the official should be disqualified from holding office,” she said in mixed English and Filipino, at a forum organized by the University of the Philippines College of Law last Wednesday.
The Senate has yet to constitute an impeachment court. Senate President Francis Escudero has said trial may start in late July. The House submitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on February 5. – With Wendell Vigilia
