Lawyers ask SC to stop impeachment hearings vs Sara Duterte

Lawyers linked to Vice President Sara Duterte filed a petition on Friday, 27 March, asking the Supreme Court to halt the impeachment proceedings currently being heard at the House of Representatives..

The petition seeks a temporary restraining order and alleges that the House Committee on Justice committed serious constitutional violations in pushing ahead with the impeachment hearings.

Atty. Israelito Torreon, who has handled previous cases for the Vice President, said they were filing the petition in their capacity as taxpayers. 

“It is bounded by law, by due process, by the Committee’s duty to dismiss complaints that fail the required threshold tests, and by prohibition against converting impeachment initiation into a roving inquiry designed to build, rather than merely evaluate, a case,” the petition read.

Meanwhile, the House Committee on Justice Vice Chairperson Bel Zamora rejected claims that the hearings violate the Constitution. 

“The Supreme Court already made it clear that impeachment cases against the Vice President must start with the Committee on Justice. “That is exactly what we are implementing,” Zamora told Daily Tribune.

She added that the panel is following constitutional procedure and internal chamber rules.

“We are exercising the mandate given to us. If they want to contest that, they are free to do so,” she said. 

“But it’s ironic that they are challenging the very process they insisted on last year,” she added.

After declaring the complaints sufficient in grounds on March 18, 2026, the committee opened formal hearings on 25 March. Duterte did not appear at the first hearing, and her camp branded the process as politically motivated.

The panel has issued a subpoena to a Commission on Audit custodian for records of the Department of Education (DepEd) and Office of the Vice President confidential funds from 2022 to 2023. 

It also summoned former DepEd undersecretary Atty. Michael Poa, and requested video recordings from the Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability to obtain the transcripts of former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado.