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Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com
June 25, 2025 | 6:00pm
Protesters holding placards shout slogans during a rally at the People Power monument in Manila on January 31, 2025, in support of the impeachment of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte.
AFP / Ted Aljibe
MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives prosecution panel has maintained the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is legal.
The panel complied with part of the Senate impeachment court’s order to affirm the constitutionality of Duterte’s impeachment through the issuance of Resolution No. 328 (House Resolution No. 2346).
“The impeachment proceedings initiated on February 5, 2025 against the Vice-President of the Republic of the Philippines, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, fully complied with Article XI, Section 3, Paragraph 5 of the 1987 Constitution and the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the House of Representatives,” the panel’s submission read.
“This submission is without waiver of the Prosecution's position that there is no legal basis for the return of the Articles of Impeachment forwarded to the Senate in accordance with the 1987 Constitution, which enjoys a presumption of legality and constitutionality,” the House prosecutors reasoned.
The said Constitution provision is the one-year ban rule, which states that not more than one impeachment case cannot be lodged against a public official within one year.
In her response, Duterte’s camp said that there were three other impeachment complaints lodged shortly before the fourth and final complaint: which is the current case that was approved by the House. This violated the one-year ban, they reasoned.
The House, through the prosecution, has also resubmitted an entry of appearance with motion to issue summons.
An entry of appearance is a legal document that declares that a lawyer will represent a case while a motion to issue summons is an appeal to compel the defendant to appear in court.
In the manifestation, the House projector stated that: “In contrast to the Appearance Ad Cautelam dated 16 June 2025 filed by the counsels for the Respondent, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, there is no reservation, limitation or other qualification of any kind on the part of the undersigned public prosecutors.”
Duterte’s response to the Senate’s summons is an Appearance Ad Cautelam, which means she was proceeding with caution.
In a statement issued through impeachment court spokesperson Regie Tongol, the receipt of the resubmission and the resolution was confirmed.
