Monday, July 14, 2025

Lawyers ask SC to stop Sara impeachment

A GROUP of Davao City-based lawyers yesterday asked the Supreme Court to stop impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, arguing that it stems from a “defective” and “constitutionally infirm” impeachment complaint.

A prosecutor in the impeachment case, Rep. Jil Bongalon (PL, Ako Bicol), laughed off the filing of the petition, calling it a “mere publicity stunt” and “an act of desperation.”

The Senate has yet to convene the impeachment court.

The Makabayan bloc at the House accused Duterte of trying to dodge accountability for her misdeeds and misuse of taxpayers’ money through the filing of the petition.

Rep. France Castro (ACT Teacher) and senatorial candidate, said the Duterte camp is behind the petition to derail efforts to remove the Vice President from office, calling it a “desperate legal maneuver to obstruct justice.”

“This is nothing but a last-ditch effort to escape scrutiny over the millions of confidential funds that were questionably spent under her watch. If she has nothing to hide, why the frantic effort to wriggle out? First, she refused to appear in House hearings, now she wants to prevent the impeachment trial altogether,” Castro said.

The petition for certiorari and prohibition was signed by Israelito Torreon, former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairperson Martin Delgra III, James Reserva and Hillary Olga Reserva, as well as members of the Davao City Council represented by lawyer Luna Acosta in their personal capacities.

Torreon is also serving as legal counsel of detained pastor Apollo Quiboloy who is facing a string of sexual abuse cases before the Pasig and Quezon City courts. Delgra is one of the lawyers of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

Hillary Olga Reserva served as a lawyer of Jey Rence Quilario, leader of the alleged cult Socorro Bayanihan Services Inc.

Named respondents in the petition were Speaker Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero.

The petition is in contrast to that filed last Friday by lawyer and former Presidential Commission on Good Government counsel Catalino Generillo Jr. who urged the High Court to compel the Senate to immediately convene as an impeachment court and begin the trial against the Vice President.

In the latest petition, the lawyers said the impeachment complaint against Duterte was rushed through Congress in a single day and was not properly verified by members of the House in violation of Section 3 (4), Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.

“The Constitution is clear, impeachment is not a tool for political expediency, it should not be reduced to a mere numbers game among legislators seeking to consolidate power. It is a solemn process, bound by strict procedural requirements, meant to safeguard, not subvert, democracy. Yet in reckless defiance of these constitutional mandates, the House has trampled upon the fundamental principles of justice, disregarded precedent, and undermined the voice of the people by weaponizing impeachment as a means to remove a duly elected leader,” part of the 114-page petition said.

“The House of Representatives dilly-dallied on the first three impeachment complaints but railroaded the filing of the fourth impeachment complaint,” it added.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said the issue is “moot.”

“The three impeachment complaints, filed earlier, by order of the plenary on February 5th, have been transmitted to the archives. 215 House members filed an impeachment complaint against the Vice President and I was ordered by the plenary to transmit that to the Senate also on February 5th,” Velasco said.

The three complaints were filed in December last year.

The complaint accuses Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

`SOVEREIGN WILL’

The petitioners said the House members, by voting for a “haphazard” and “procedurally flawed” impeachment complaint, threaten to disenfranchise some 32 million Filipinos who voted for Duterte as the second highest official of the land in the 2022 elections.

“It must be stressed that the sovereign will of the people must be respected. The people, not Congress, hold absolute sovereignty. No faction of lawmakers, regardless of their political agenda, has the authority to negate the voice of millions. Political convenience must never prevail over constitutional fidelity,” the petitioners added.

The petition stressed the need for the High Court to annul and set aside the verified complaint for impeachment for having been issued with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction, in violation of the constitutional requirements on impeachment proceedings and due process of law.

“The Honorable Court is called upon to exercise its power of judicial review to determine whether the House of Representatives acted with grave abuse of discretion when it filed and transmitted the Articles of Impeachment without adhering to the fundamental requirements of verification, due deliberation, and their circumvention of the one-year bar rule on impeachment complaints,” the petition further said.

TRO

The petitioners asked the High Court to issue a temporary restraining order and or a writ of prohibition to “enjoin and prohibit” the Senate from acting on the articles of impeachment and from proceeding with the impeachment trial.

“We feel that the impeachment complaint is constitutionally deficient, it violates pertinent constitutional provision, and likewise, jurisdictionally void, and the same should be dismissed and not entertained by the Senate of the Philippines,” Torreon told reporters after filing the petition.

“It is very defective because it did consider the priorly filed impeachment complaints, it did not consider due process and it did not also follow the constitutionally prescribed verification process. Because of these three the impeachment complaint should be dismissed, should not be entertained rather,” he added.

Torreon said the verification process requires that it should be personally known, the allegations, or personally known and studied by the respective congressmen who signed it.

“If you noticed the congressmen who went there did not even know as to the subject matter of the discussion in the House caucus,” he said.

He also said the ban against a second impeachment complaint within a period of one year had already operated when the fourth complaint was entertained by the House of Representatives.

It also argued that the proceedings failed to accord due process to the VP, prior to the filing with the Senate of the “defective” Articles. They cited the malicious non-action of three prior impeachment complaints.

“It is therefore for this Honorable Court to declare the impeachment complaint void ab initio for being constitutionally and procedurally defective and issue a writ of prohibition directing the Senate of the Philippines to refrain from conducting impeachment proceedings based on an invalid and jurisdictionally infirm impeachment complaint,” the petitioners added.

PERSECUTION

Torreon said the impeachment against Duterte was nothing but plain political persecution.

“You cannot describe it otherwise. This is part of the plan to eliminate her as the probable contender in the 2028 national elections. That’s my personal belief,” he said.

Rep. Jil Bongalon, said the Vice President is “panic mode.”

“Even without reading the petition filed a while ago, we can assure the public that it can only mean two things: it’s purely a publicity stunt or unmistakable proof that the camp of the Vice President is on panic mode,” he said in a statement.

Bongalon maintained the Articles of Impeachment “meets all constitutional requirements for trial in the Senate.”

“The Constitution sets clear and basic requirements for an impeachment complaint to move forward: it must be filed by at least one-third of the House of Representatives, verified, have the votes of each member recorded, and cannot be initiated more than once within a one-year period,” he said.

“There is a reason for this. As ordained in the Constitution, impeachment is an act of political justice and an exception to the judiciary’s monopoly on deciding cases. Impeachment is purely a political exercise,” he added.

Bongalon said the Vice President’s camp is resorting to “delaying tactics” to stop the Senate from trying the case. “In their utter desperation, the Vice President’s camp is throwing the proverbial kitchen sink to stop the inevitable — for the Senate to commence trial and for the public to finally see the overwhelming and damning evidence against her,” he said.

He challenged the Vice President’s camp to stop what he called their “stunts” and “face us in trial,” stressing that the “Filipino people deserve no less.” 

FUNDS

The Makabayan bloc maintained that the impeachment complaint is valid and properly filed, following all constitutional requirements.

The coalition of progressive party-list groups urged the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition for certiorari and allow the impeachment process to proceed according to constitutional mandate.

Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM) senatorial bet Leody de Guzman said Filipino taxpayers deserve the know if the P612.5 million confidential funds released to Duterte via the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education were properly utilized.

“The impeachment trial should start the soonest time possible so we can hear her explanations. Perhaps this case will be a deterrent. Reckless spending in government should stop because the people worked hard for every centavo of the tax deducted from their wages,” the labor leader said.

Where officials accountable for public funds refuse or are unable to justify how the money is used, De Guzman said the presumption is that the sum was pocketed or converted to their benefits.

“It is plain and simple thievery. In that sense, it is no different from the former pork barrel fund system that was declared unconstitutional. We should abolish confidential fund and intelligence fund should not be provided to civilian agencies. Only the military and police forces should have it since they are the one ones with the legitimate function of maintaining peace and order,” he said.

Rep. Arlene Brosas chided the Vice President for her alleged continuing effort to avoid scrutiny of her confidential expenses.

“The pattern is clear – she previously refused to appear before House hearings now she is putting the brakes on the impeachment process. This is the height of arrogance and contempt for public accountability. Still the question remains: what happened to the hundreds of millions in confidential funds?” she said.

Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel called on Duterte to stop dodging the issue and just meet the allegations leveled against her in the Articles of Impeachment. “The Filipino people deserve answers, not legal gymnastics. The Vice President cannot hide behind her Davao lawyers forever. If she has nothing to hide, then she has every reason to clear her side before the impeachment court,” he said. – With Wendell Vigilia and Peter Tabingo

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