One of the lawmakers who voted “No” to archiving the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, Senator Kiko Pangilinan, said the Supreme Court seemed to have based its recent decision favoring the Vice President on inaccurate facts.
Pangilinan warned that the High Tribunal’s unprecedented move to strike down the impeachment case against Duterte—based, he says, on “incorrect” facts—could weaken the country’s system of checks and balances if left unchallenged.
In a recent television interview, Pangilinan said the Motion for Reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives is not just a legal remedy, but a constitutional moment for the High Court to correct its course.
“If the facts are wrong, then your ruling is wrong,” Pangilinan stressed. “It’s like saying you killed someone when you didn’t — and the court did not appreciate the facts. That’s unjust and unfair. And that’s what happened here.”
The senator took issue with the SC’s application of the one-year bar rule, arguing that the first three impeachment complaints against Duterte were never “initiated” before the fourth was transmitted to the Senate.
“There was no first, second, or third initiation because what they acted on and initiated was the fourth complaint. Then they archived the three,” Pangilinan said. “The claim that the fourth complaint is barred by the one-year rule because of three earlier ‘initiated’ complaints is simply incorrect.”
Pangilinan added that the upper chamber should have held off until the MR was resolved.
“When you do something as unprecedented as this, the least the Supreme Court could have done was check their facts,” he said. “That MR is the chance to fix those factual errors, restore fairness, and protect the integrity of our democratic institutions.”
Legal analysts have noted that the SC’s ruling, if upheld, could redefine the limits of impeachment proceedings and tilt the balance of power between the legislative and judicial branches — a prospect Pangilinan says must be addressed before it becomes a permanent precedent.
On 6 August, 19 senators voted “Yes” to archive the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte, while Senators Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan, and Vicente Sotto III voted against the move. Senator Panfilo Lacson abstained.