The lawyers of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday submitted to the House of Representatives a copy of her formal response to the impeachment complaint lodged against her on 5 February.
House spokesperson Princess Abante confirmed receipt of the document from a messenger of the defense counsel — Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar law firm.
A full copy of Duterte’s answer ad cautelam was not released to the media. However, the cover page indicated Duterte is seeking the dismissal of the articles of impeachment.
“The fourth impeachment complaint must be dismissed because: it is void ab initio for violating the one-year ban rule under Section 3 (5) Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, which explicitly prohibits the initiation of more than one (impeachment),” the document read.
In February, a week after her impeachment, Duterte filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court raising the same argument. Through the same counsel, she claimed that the House committed grave abuse of discretion when it deliberately froze action on the first three impeachment complaints by not forwarding them to the Office of the Speaker.
“By doing so, the House of Representatives deliberately circumvented and violated the one-year bar, and ran roughshod over and made a mockery of the procedures under the Constitution and the House Rules on Impeachment, not only compromising the integrity of the impeachment proceedings, but demonstrating that all of this is nothing more than a political maneuver,” the petition stated.
The seven articles of impeachment were transmitted to the Senate on 5 February, shortly after Duterte was impeached.
It was the fourth complaint filed against her in just two months.
House prosecutors have argued that, unlike the first three complaints, the fourth case moved directly to the Speaker’s Office and plenary for adoption because it was signed and endorsed by 215 lawmakers — well above the one-third vote required under the Constitution. This allowed it to bypass committee hearings and proceed directly to the Senate for trial.
The Senate impeachment court is expected to begin the trial once the 20th Congress opens on 28 July. However, the Senate remanded the fourth impeachment complaint to the House pending certification that it did not violate the one-year bar rule.
The House was also directed to issue a manifestation of willingness to pursue the impeachment trial in the 20th Congress.
House leaders have since deferred accepting the remanded complaint, maintaining that they “fully and strictly” complied with all constitutional and procedural requirements. They further argued that a separate certification was unnecessary since the transmitted complaint was already verified.
Duterte is the first vice president to be impeached by the House, facing charges 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 consistently denied the corruption charges, insisting her confidential fund usage was lawful and that her remarks about assassinating the Marcos family were “taken out of context.”
House prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua denied rumors that the impeachment would be refiled in the next Congress, stressing that doing so would violate the one-year bar rule.