Sara Duterte pleads not guilty in impeachment case, wants trial dismissed

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The fourth complaint against her — the basis for the impeachment — is 'nothing more than a scrap of paper,' Vice President Sara Duterte says

MANILA, Philippines – Vice President Sara Duterte filed her answer to the articles of impeachment against her on Monday, June 23, entering a not guilty plea and asking the court to junk the case.

Duterte said she cannot be compelled to answer the impeachment articles that have been returned by the Senate to the House of Representatives.

“From the foregoing, one fact is clear: there are no articles of impeachment presently with this Court,” read her answer, a copy of which was seen by Rappler later Monday.

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, made such a move on June 10 after Senator Bato dela Rosa, a Duterte ally, alleged that the House’s impeachment of the Vice President was unconstitutional.

In her reply, Duterte reiterated her arguments in the petition she filed with the Supreme Court, saying that the House violated the constitutional one-year bar when it impeached her in February through a fourth petition.

She claimed that the impeachment proceedings already started in December, when three groups of complainants filed impeachment petitions against her with the House.

Duterte insisted that the delayed referral of the complaints to the Speaker’s office was a deliberate attempt to avoid triggering the one-year bar rule.

The Office of the Solicitor General, lawyering for the House, said in March that none of the three complaints were referred to the justice committee, which meant that the constitutional one-year bar was not activated.

Undermining the allegations

Duterte was impeached on the grounds of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

She was accused of plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., misusing confidential funds, bribing government officials, and being involved in extrajudicial killings in Davao City, among others.

“There are no statements of ultimate facts in the fourth impeachment complaint. Stripped of its ‘factual’ and legal conclusions, it is nothing more than a scrap of paper,” the Vice President said.

In her answer, she said her alleged threats to the life of the President — made during an online broadcast in November — were “exaggerations and speculations that are not supported by evidence.”

“The fourth impeachment complaint accuses the Vice President of ‘entering a contract to kill.’ However, it does not offer any proof thereof. It also does not show what acts allegedly constitute such ‘high crimes,'” the reply read.

Duterte also said “no final decision exists” on the allegation that her handling of confidential funds was illegal or unconscionable.

“Considering all the foregoing, the Vice President enters a plea of not guilty, without waiving any of her jurisdictional and other objections over the charges,” the reply read.

“Wherefore, it is respectfully prayed that, after due proceedings, (a) the affirmative defenses listed and explained above be first resolved and, thereafter, (b) the Fourth Impeachment Complaint dated February 5, 2025 be dismissed.” – Rappler.com