Senators warned against dismissing VP Sara’s case sans trial

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July 14, 2025 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Panfilo Lacson has cautioned his colleagues about moving to dismiss the impeachment complaint of Vice President Sara Duterte instead of going to trial.

Lacson issued the gentle warning amid reports that Duterte’s loyal aide, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, plans to move for the dismissal of the complaint when the Senate impeachment court resumes session on July 29, and put to a vote whether or not the 20th Congress is bound by the actions of the previous one.

“VP Impeachment Jurisdiction: A gentle caution to senator-judges of the impeachment court – we should leave the filing of all motions and pleadings to the prosecution and defense teams,” Lacson declared. 

Dela Rosa has been criticized by certain quarters for acting like a member of Duterte’s defense team, although he had also previously said he was ready to assess the evidence.

“Our job is to listen to their arguments and counter-arguments and make a ruling,” Lacson said.

During the June 10 Senate court session, it was Dela Rosa who first moved that the case be dismissed, before the motion was amended and approved for the Articles of Impeachment to be returned to the House prosecution team for certification of constitutional compliance.

The court session was held during the previous 19th Congress, thus raising questions of jurisdiction that Dela Rosa wants to bring up during the next session.

In a dwIZ interview on Saturday, Senate impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol said he expected fierce debates in Dela Rosa’s plan to question Senate jurisdiction on the impeachment case initiated by the previous Congress.

But these are issues raised before the Supreme Court, where the latest development was the directive for both House and Senate to submit information on the initiation of impeachment to the impending trial before it could resolve the Vice President’s camp to halt the proceedings and nullify the complaint.

Duterte was impeached on allegations of unexplained wealth, confidential funds misuse, and assassination remarks against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Rep. Martin Romualdez.

The Senate impeachment court has been accused of delaying the case instead of proceeding to trial forthwith, as affirmed in the latest June 25 to 29 Pulse Asia survey wherein 44 percent of respondents agreed with the allegation.