The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is not dead in the water, with her removal still possible when the 20th Congress convenes in July, lawmakers said Tuesday.

Representative-elect Leila de Lima conceded, though, that Duterte’s legal team may seek last-minute relief from the Supreme Court to delay or block the proceedings.

“We are expecting that,” De Lima, a former senator and prospective member of the House prosecution panel, said in an interview, referring to a possible SC petition.

“It is not far-fetched to question that because it’s really a new, open, noble issue. We don’t have a precedent like that yet,” she added.

However, she and other legislators have argued that the impeachment process can legally carry over into the next Congress, contrary to the claim of election lawyer Romulo Macalintal.

Macalintal has warned that if the Senate proceeds with the trial after the 19th Congress adjourns on 30 June, it may violate the Constitution’s one-year prohibition on repeat filings.

Citing Senate Rule 44, Macalintal noted that unfinished business, such as bills and resolutions, are terminated at the end of a congressional session, though they may be reintroduced as if newly filed in the succeeding Congress.

“If the trial begins on 2 June but is not completed by 30 June, it will die a natural death,” Macalintal said, emphasizing the limited time left in the current congressional session.

However, De Lima and fellow House prosecutor Rep. Lorenz Defensor of Iloilo countered that impeachment is sui generis — a proceeding of its own kind — distinct from legislative acts and therefore not subject to standard congressional rules.

“The impeachment process is not an ordinary legislative function of Congress,” De Lima said. “When a new Congress takes over, you don’t start from scratch.”

Defensor echoed her view, saying, “I have to disagree with attorney Macalintal. The Senate is a continuing body. An impeachment trial is not legislative —it’s sui generis. We’ve been repeatedly saying that.”

He also cited the constitutional framers’ intent to treat impeachment as a national inquest rather than a legislative measure, explaining why impeachment provisions appear outside the lawmaking powers enumerated in Article VI of the Constitution.

“It’s not just about the senators and the congressmen,” Defensor said. “The impeachment process is about protecting the people and the country from officials who are possibly not morally fit to hold office. So, a technicality such as the end of the legislative term should not stop the Senate trial.”

As a precedent, he cited the case of former US President Bill Clinton who was impeached by the US House of Representatives in December 1998 and tried in the Senate in January 1999, after a new Congress had convened.

Philippine jurisprudence largely mirrors that of the US.

Duterte’s lawyers filed a petition before the Supreme Court on 18 February seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the Senate from acting on her impeachment case.

The petition argued that the articles of impeachment were flawed and constitutionally infirm.

The Vice President also accused the House of Representatives of circumventing the Constitution’s one-year bar on multiple impeachment filings. The fourth complaint was transmitted to the Senate in February, only two months after three earlier complaints were filed in December.

Vice President Duterte is facing charges of graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution. The Senate trial is expected to begin in earnest shortly after the 20th Congress opens on 28 July.

However, Senate President Francis Escudero announced that the chamber would start the impeachment proceedings by 3 June with members of the 19th Congress.

To convict her and bar her permanently from public office, at least two-thirds of the Senate — or 16 of 24 senators — must vote for her removal, a decision that could upend her prospects in the 2028 presidential race.

Duterte left the country Monday for Qatar and the Netherlands and is expected to return on 4 June, two days after the House prosecution panel reads the seven articles of impeachment during the Senate’s plenary session on 2 June.