Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday voiced deep concern over what she described as a “difficult and dangerous precedent” that could stall efforts for accountability at the highest levels of government.

She was pertaining to the Senate’s earlier decision to archive the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. 

In a radio interview, Hontiveros lamented the Senate’s move to archive the complaint instead of simply tabling it, calling it a decision that may prove nearly impossible to reverse.

“Pag in-archive, kahit hindi pa patay, napakahirap ilabas (Once archived, even if it’s not yet dead, it would be hard to pull it out),” Hontiveros warned. “Kailangan pa ng majority vote para lang ilabas muli sa archives.”

She further explained. “Ang pagkakaiba po ay napakahirap ilabas sa archives. Kung baga, sobrang, sobra yun. Tama na sana yung motion to table kasi nga ibig sabihin isasang-tabi muna pero oras na matapos ang desisyon ng Korte Suprema. So motions for reconsideration, itutuloy na. Ganun lang (The difference is very difficult to bring out from the archives. In other words, it's really too much. The motion to table should have been enough because that means it would be set aside for now, but once the Supreme Court's decision is finalized, the motions for reconsideration will proceed. That's all there is to it).”

‘Table, not bury’

To recall, Hontiveros backed the position of Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito" Sotto III, who had moved to table the complaint instead of archiving it, a move, she explained, that would have temporarily shelved proceedings pending the Supreme Court’s ruling on related legal questions.

“Mas tama talaga yung motion ni Senator Sotto (Senator Sotto's motion is actually the more appropriate one),” she said.

The senator also emphasized that while tabling is a procedural pause, archiving amounts to placing the complaint in legal limbo, which is out of reach unless a majority of senators agree to revive it. 

This makes the possibility of continuing the impeachment trial highly unlikely, given the vote tally from the previous evening, she added. 

Public left in the dark

Hontiveros also expressed concern about the transparency of the process, pointing out that even senator-judges remain in the dark about the contents of the Articles of Impeachment — including witnesses and evidence.

“Paano magmo-move on ang mamamayan? Hindi nila alam ang buong kwento? hindi alam ng senator judges ano ba yung mga ebidensya at witnesses sa bawat articles of impeachment? (How can the people move on? They don’t even know the full story. The senator-judges don’t know what the evidence and witnesses are for each article of impeachment),” she asked. 

She rejected calls to simply “move on,” saying such appeals risk sweeping unresolved issues under the rug.

“Okay naman ang move on para sa mental health ng indibidwal, pero naaabuso minsan ang panawagang move on, move na ‘yan ( Moving on is good for an individual’s mental health, but the call to 'move on, move on already' is sometimes abused),” Hontiveros said. 

“Ang totoong pag move forward ay kung respetuhin natin yung prosesong iniutos ng Konstitusyon na ang impeachment complaint na ininitiate ng House of Representatives ay dinigin namin at desisyunan bilang impeachment trial court. Yun yung nabitin, naudlot kagabi (The true way to move forward is to respect the process mandated by the Constitution — that the impeachment complaint initiated by the House of Representatives should be heard and decided by us as the impeachment trial court. That’s what was cut short,  interrupted last night),” she added.

Supreme Court still in play

While Hontiveros would not speculate on the likelihood of the Supreme Court reversing its unanimous decision to halt the impeachment trial, she pointed out that legal reversals have happened before.

“Hindi ko rin masabi kung confident ba ako o hindi na magre-reverse ang Korte Suprema. Kasi hindi naman namin mabasa ang isip nila at hindi namin dapat pangunahan. Yun na nga yung punto nung motion ni Minority Leader Tito Sotto (I can’t confidently say if the Supreme Court would reverse or not, because I haven’t read their minds and I don’t want to preempt. That’s the point of the Minority Leader Tito Sotto’s motion),” she said. 

The Court has given Vice President Duterte ten days to respond to motions for reconsideration, a key procedural point that Hontiveros said should have been respected by the Senate through a temporary tabling, not a full archive.

Despite the setback, Hontiveros noted that under the High Court’s ruling, a new impeachment complaint could be filed as early as February 6, 2026, either by civil society or members of the House of Representatives.

“Sayang di ba meron na tayong impeachment complaint na umabot na sa ganitong stage ng trial process. Pero sa halip na patuloy na dinigin or at the very least, i-table lang muna. Di ba? I-table pansamantala. Talagang in-archive (It's a shame, right? We already had an impeachment complaint that had reached this stage of the trial process. But instead of continuing to hear it — or at the very least, just tabling it for now — they really archived it),” she said. 

“At kailangang medyo hukayin ng puspusan through a majority vote para ilabas ulit yan at maaaring dinigin kung mag-reverse ang Korte Suprema (And now it would take a major effort, through a majority vote, to dig it back up and possibly resume the hearings if the Supreme Court reverses its decision),” she added.

For now, Hontiveros said the fight for accountability continues, albeit through legislative means, and under the shadow of what she sees as a missed opportunity.