Philippine senator Ronald dela Rosa gestures during a session at the Senate in Manila on June 10, 2025. The Philippine Senate voted on June 10 to send the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte back to the House of Representatives, a decision one senator called a "functional dismissal". -- Photo by Ted ALJIBE / AFP
MANILA (Bloomberg): Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has asked the Senate to dismiss the impeachment case against her as it violated the one-year ban set under the constitution.
In a copy of Duterte’s response to the articles of impeachment against her, she said the complaint was void from the start because under the 1987 Constitution, only one impeachment proceeding may be initiated against the same official within a year.
Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in February on charges that include graft, sedition and plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. after the collapse of their alliance. She has denied the allegations.
Duterte, daughter of former leader Rodrigo, made the same argument when she asked the Supreme Court to nullify the impeachment case against her in February.
Congresswoman Ysabel Maria Zamora, one of the prosecutors at the House of Representatives, said the one-year ban had not set in yet since the first three impeachment complaints filed at the House were not forwarded to the committee on justice as part of procedure, the Inquirer reported.
A fourth complaint, which consolidated the previous three, was adopted and led to Duterte’s impeachment, Zamora was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Senators sent back the impeachment articles to the House this month and asked the lower chamber, under the incoming 20th Congress, to certify that it’s still willing to pursue the impeachment case against Duterte.
Those moves will likely delay the start of the trial at the Senate as the next Congress will convene only on July 28.
A two-thirds vote by the 24-member Senate is required to convict Duterte, which could oust her and bar her from holding public post.
Duterte is a top contender for the 2028 presidential election, when Marcos must step down after a constitutionally limited six-year term.
--With assistance from Andreo Calonzo. -- ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
