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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
July 26, 2025 | 3:24pm
Combination photo shows Vice President Sara Duterte during a Senate hearing on Aug. 20, 2024 and Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
The STAR / Jesse Bustos and Sen. Migz Zubiri via Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) ruling on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment sets a dangerous precedent for how leaders can be held accountable in the future.
This was according to Sens. Risa Hontiveros and Kiko Pangilinan, who were quick to express dismay over the ruling.
Hontiveros said that the SC appeared to add more requirements to the impeachment process.
“I can only hope that this new ruling will not adversely affect future efforts to hold our highest public officers accountable,” she said.
Pangilinan also called the SC decision a "judicial overreach”.
“Hypothetically, should the Senate sit as an impeachment court to try an impeached Supreme Court Justice accused of corruption or other high crimes, it can then, upon a petition filed, point to this ruling and forthwith simply declare the complaint as unconstitutional,” he said.
Constitutionalist and UP Law assistant professor Paolo Tamase also outlined several concerns.
Impeachment is a political process that must be carried out by Congress, Tamase argued. He affirmed Hontiveros’ point that the Supreme Court appeared to introduce several new requirements for filing and processing an impeachment complaint.
“By making new, incredibly detailed requirements for the House to properly initiate impeachment, the Court micromanages the House and inserts the judiciary in the process," he told Philstar.com.
Tamase also pointed out that the decision “re-balances” the separation of powers between the judiciary and the legislative.
The Constitution mandates that the three branches of government are co-equal. However, the new rules prescribed by the Supreme Court concern impeachment, a process that the Constitution assigns solely to Congress.
Tamase also said that the SC ruling appears to carry undertones of prejudgment.
“The Court says that the decision doesn’t settle the merits of the allegations against the VP, but it also says that impeachment is not to ‘settle political scores’—an argument of her supporters,” he said.
