SC petition seeks to halt Duterte impeachment trial

Metro Manila, Philippines - A petition to set aside the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte was filed before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Among the lawyers who lodged the petition are former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Martin Delgra III and Israelito Torreon, the counsel of detained Pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

The petitioners also include council members of Davao City, the vice president’s hometown.

The petition said that the impeachment was “procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void.”

“They never acted on the three complaints… Blitzkrieg fashion, the filing of the fourth impeachment complaint,” Torreon said in a press conference.

“If you look at the impeachment complaint as filed in the Senate, there was even no proper verification,” he added. “The vice president was denied prior notice and hearing.”

Meanwhile, Delgra noted that Duterte has no role in the petition.

“Kung tinama nila ‘yung ginawa sa House, sang-ayon sa Saligang Batas, hindi kami magpa-file ng petition,” he said.

[Translation: If they did what’s right, pursuant to the law, we would not file a petition.]

Constitutionality

But House lawmakers insisted that their impeachment complaint does not violate the law.

Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon, one of the impeachment prosecutors, said the articles of impeachment obtained more than a third of the House, verified, had every vote logged, and initiated not more than once within a one-year period.

“It (The petition) can only mean two things: it’s purely a publicity stunt or unmistakable proof that the camp of the vice president is in panic mode,” Bongalon said.

The Makabayan party-list bloc - Gabriela Women’s Rep. Arlene Brosas, ACT Teachers Rep. France Castro, and Kabataan Rep. Raoul Manuel - denounced the filing.

“We call on the Supreme Court to dismiss this baseless petition and allow the impeachment process to proceed according to constitutional mandate. All the more the Senate must convene as an impeachment court without delay,” they said in a joint statement.

Last week, a petition was also filed to compel the Senate to act on the impeachment complaint. Senate President Chiz Escudero earlier said the trial might start in July after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s State of the Nation Address.

Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel wrote to Escudero, and pointed out the Senate’s duty to immediately act on the trial.

With 215 signatories out of the 306 House members, the lower chamber impeached Duterte on Feb. 5.

The impeachment grounds were graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes.

In the articles of impeachment, House lawmakers cited Duterte’s threat to the lives of Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez; supposed mismanagement of ₱612.5-million confidential funds; bribery and corruption; unexplained wealth and failure to disclose properties and interests; alleged involvement in extrajudicial killings; and destabilization.