House vows to comply with SC order on VP impeachment issues

The House of Representatives on Friday pledged compliance with the Supreme Court’s order to submit the necessary information concerning the impeachment case of Vice President Sara Duterte, including why the secretary-general “refused” to immediately transmit the first three complaints to the Office of the Speaker.

House spokesperson Princess Abante confirmed receipt of the SC resolution dated 8 July, containing the consolidated petitions of Vice President Sara Duterte and a group of Mindanaoan lawyers led by Atty. Isrelito Torreon, which aim to block the looming impeachment proceedings in the Senate.

Abante assured that the House, including Secretary-General Reginald Velasco, who are named respondents to the case, will “submit the additional information… and will comply accordingly.”

“We have already referred the Resolution to the Office of the Solicitor General, as our counsel, and shall coordinate closely with the OSG to ensure the submission of the required information within the non-extendible period of ten days provided by the Supreme Court,” Abante said in response to the SC.

The resolution requires Congress, both the House and the Senate, to submit detailed information on the filing and processing of the four impeachment complaints against Duterte, one of which was transmitted to the Senate for trial.

It also demands an explanation from Velasco on whether he has the authority to refuse the swift transmittal of the first three impeachment complaints to former House Speaker Martin Romualdez’s office after these were endorsed by members of the House.

In a petition filed barely a week after she was impeached, Duterte urged the high court to nullify the fourth impeachment complaint against her, accusing the House leadership and Velasco of grave abuse of discretion for deliberately withholding the first three impeachment complaints to circumvent the initiation prescribed by the Constitution, from which a one-year bar would be triggered.

The fourth impeachment complaint was filed and endorsed by 215 lawmakers on 5 February, just two months after the first three complaints were filed by civil groups in December.

The VP accused Velasco of “deliberately [freezing] the entire initiation and impeachment process” by waiting for the fourth impeachment complaint, rendering the constitutional one-year bar rule “futile and meaningless.”

The House secretary-general is constitutionally mandated to refer an impeachment complaint to the Speaker’s office, and within 10 session days from receipt, the document shall be included in the order of business.

Afterward, the complaint should then be referred within three session days to the House Committee on Justice, which will determine whether the complaint is sufficient in form and substance before endorsing its report to the plenary for a resolution.

The House prosecution panel has maintained that the one-year prohibition was “never circumvented” because the initiation was only triggered when the fourth impeachment complaint was verified and signed by at least 215 members of the entire House.

The figure was more than double the one-third votes (102 signatories) required for an impeachment complaint, allowing it to bypass committee hearings and be transmitted directly to the Senate for trial.

Duterte was the first second-highest official impeached by the House on grounds of graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes.

The seven articles of impeachment stemmed largely from the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education during her tenure as DepEd secretary. She was also accused of plotting to assassinate the family of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Duterte has repeatedly denied the corruption charges, insisting that her confidential fund usage was lawful and that her remarks about assassinating the Marcos family were “taken out of context.”

The Senate is expected to try her when the 20th Congress opens on 28 July. A vote of two-thirds, or at least 16 of the 24 senators, is required to convict and permanently bar Duterte from holding public office, derailing her potential bid for the presidency.