Philippine prosecutors said yesterday the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte must go ahead, a day after the Senate voted to send the case back to the House of Representatives for review.
Duterte was impeached by the House in February for “violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes,” including alleged corruption and a threat on the life of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
However, the Senate on Tuesday voted to send the case back to the lower house to clarify its constitutionality, just hours after initiating its impeachment trial against Duterte.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday, members of the impeachment prosecution panel aired their concerns about the Senate’s decision and said that they would raise a motion seeking clarity on the decision. Jinky Luistro, a House representative for the Batangas 2nd District, said that the prosecution panel was “somewhat confused by the order of the impeachment court,” Rappler reported.
Congresswoman Gerville Luistro, another member of the panel, added that the House had fulfilled its duty and the Senate’s issuance of a summons to Duterte to answer charges meant it already had jurisdiction over the case.
“No one can stop this anymore,” Luistro told a press conference. “We are certain that the complaint is strictly and fully compliant with the requirements of the constitution.” She added that the prosecution’s case was strong and backed by ample evidence, although Duterte has repeatedly denied the charges and says she is ready to “expose the baselessness of the accusations.”
The Senate’s motion, was passed by a vote of 18 to five, was initiated by Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of the Dutertes, after another pro-Duterte senator tried and failed to secure the dismissal of the case against the vice president. While the motion clarified that it was remanding the articles of impeachment to the House “without dismissing or terminating the case,” critics of the move, including the minority bloc in the Senate, say that it is an apparent attempt to tie the impeachment proceedings up in legal challenges and counter-challenges. Some analysts have even argued that the motion to send the case back to the House was itself unconstitutional.
According to Rappler, the Senate is calling for the House to certify that it did not violate the “one-year bar” rule in the Philippine Constitution when it proceeded with Duterte’s impeachment. The rule states that the House cannot initiate impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a period of one year. Duterte and her supporters argue (somewhat circuitously) that the House secretary general violated the rule when he sat on several impeachment complaints filed against Duterte late last year, instead of immediately forwarding them to the House for deliberation.
The Senate also wants the House of the incoming 20th Congress, which was elected at last month’s midterm elections and is set to convene on July 28, to clarify that it is still willing to conduct the impeachment trial.
Duterte’s impeachment is the culmination and politico-legal manifestation of the political feud that has broken out between Duterte and President Marcos, who teamed up to great political effect ahead of the 2022 presidential election. This week’s motion suggests that the public political battle is now entering a new phase of grinding legalistic combat.