Sara Duterte says lawyers ready for new impeachment bid

Vice President Sara Duterte said her legal team has long been preparing for the possible filing of a new impeachment complaint, even after the Supreme Court upheld its 2025 ruling that declared the impeachment case against her unconstitutional.

Duterte said her lawyers have been preparing for a potential impeachment bid since the fourth quarter of 2023.

"Yung mga lawyers, they’ve been preparing. They were hired as early as fourth quarter of 2023, the moment that one of the members of the House of Representatives announced that they will file a case against me," Duterte said in an ambush interview on Thursday, 29 January, while she was in The Hague to visit her detained father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

She said she had personally confirmed the move inside the House Speaker’s office at the time, which was why lawyers were already present then.

"Hanggang ngayon, tuloy-tuloy pa naman yung mga abogado and legal team. And nung nakaraang taon, bago mag-Christmas break, ay napag-usapan din namin yung paghahanda sa impeachment," Duterte said.

"Hindi lang ngayong taon na ito, dahil sigurado kapag hindi sila nakapag-file ngayong taon, susunod na taon at hanggang matapos ang aking termino, ganoon ang gagawin nila," she added.

The Vice President also thanked her supporters and legal team for standing by her.

"Unang-una nagpapasalamat ako sa Diyos. Pangalawa, nagpapasalamat ako sa mga abogado na nagtulong-tulong para kwestyunin yung pag-abuso ng proseso ng impeachment ng House of Representatives. At pangatlo, nagpapasalamat ako sa lahat ng kababayan na patuloy na naniniwala at nagtitiwala sa akin," she said.

Duterte further said she has not discussed the latest development of her impeachment case.

"Hindi ko na binanggit sa kanya yung denial ng motion for reconsideration doon sa kaso dahil ayaw ko na pag-usapan yung impeachment. Mas mabuti na pag-usapan ang mga bagay na mas may relevance sa buhay natin at sa bayan kaysa doon sa impeachment," she said.

The Supreme Court en banc on Thursday denied with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives, which sought to reverse the ruling that declared the articles of impeachment against the Vice President unconstitutional.

In July 2025, the high court unanimously ruled that the articles of impeachment were barred by the one-year rule under the Constitution.

In December 2024, three impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte over the alleged misuse of confidential funds. However, it was the fourth impeachment complaint that was endorsed by a majority of House lawmakers and later transmitted to the Senate as the articles of impeachment.

The House of Representatives filed a motion for reconsideration, arguing that the archiving of the first three complaints occurred only after the transmittal of the fourth complaint and therefore did not fall under the one-year ban.

In its decision, the Supreme Court clarified that the first three impeachment complaints, filed under the first mode, were not placed in the Order of Business within the required 10 session days.