Several personalities from Mindanao on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court (SC) to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and declare null and void the impending impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte by the Senate.

Lawyers Israelito Torreon and Martin Delgra III argued in their petition certiorari that the House of Representatives committed a grave abuse of discretion when it issued the articles of impeachment against Duterte.

They averred that the initiation of the impeachment complaint was procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void.

Torreon said the impeachment complaint was processed without prior committee evaluation and with defects in the verification process.

He explained that the verification process requires that the allegations must be personally known or had been personally studied by the congressmen who signed the complaint.

The congressmen who attended the House caucus were unaware of the subject matter of the discussion, he claimed.

Among those who petitioned the SC were Davao City Councilor Luna Maria Dominique Acosta, Bai Jundra Cassandra Dominique Advincula and Lord Byron Cristobal.

In asking the SC to nullify the articles of impeachment, the petitioners sought to permanently enjoin the Senate from putting Duterte on trial.

Further, Torreon argued that the constitutional ban on a second complaint within a year had taken effect when the House entertained a fourth impeachment complaint against the Vice President.

Likewise, the petitioners maintained that the impeachment of the Duterte was politically motivated to stop her from seeking the presidency in 2028, possibly against Speaker Martin Romualdez.

The impeachment complaint that was signed by 215 House members accused Duterte of misusing millions of pesos in confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she headed the latter.

She was also accused of culpable violation of the Constitution for threatening to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and Romualdez assassinated if she were killed first.

Separately, for allegedly hiring a hitman to kill the three officials, Duterte has been charged by the National Bureau of Investigation with grave threats and inciting to sedition.

The SC tabled for an en banc discussion an earlier petition to order the Senate to start the impeachment trial of Duterte immediately, after Senate President Francis Escudero had said the trial might commence after the President’s third State of the Nation Address and under the incoming 20th Congress in July.