VP Sara asks Supreme Court to stop impeachment raps

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte urged the Supreme Court to halt the impeachment proceedings against her.

Duterte filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition before the high court on March 30, asking the Supreme Court to issue an urgent Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) or a Writ of Preliminary Injunction to prevent the House Committee on Justice from further acting on the impeachment complaints filed against her.

She argued that the House committed a "grave abuse of discretion by initiating the impeachment process without complying with the fundamental requirements of due process and the House's own rules of procedure."

“Under the given factual circumstances, the issues raised by the petitioner require the immediate attention of this Honorable Court lest she continues to be subjected to an exercise of a grave abuse of authority by respondents HOR and its Committee on Justice through an illegal process,” Duterte’s petition read.

Specifically, the petition contends that the complaints failed to meet the "sufficiency in form and substance" requirement.

The vice president’s camp claims that the allegations lack the necessary verification and are based on hearsay rather than personal knowledge, which they argue is a mandatory prerequisite under Section 3(2), Article XI of the 1987 Constitution.

“The finding of sufficiency in substance and grounds by the Committee on Justice necessarily presupposes that the allegations in the complaints are already supported by evidence-at-hand, and not by the prospect of some anticipated evidence yet to be unearthed,” Duterte said.

The vice president also argued that the complaint against her already violated the one-year bar rule, following the setting aside of the impeachment complaint of the Makabayan bloc.

It could be recalled that on July 25, 2025, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the impeachment complaints against Duterte for violating the one-year bar rule.

Not Sara’s court. Rep. Leila De Lima (Mamamayang Liberal) called out the petition of Duterte.

"Akala siguro nila 'yung SC ay ‘Sara's court’ na pwede nila laging takbuhan para pagtakpan ang kaduwagan at pagtakas sa pananagutan,” De Lima said in a statement.

(Maybe they think the SC is 'Sara’s court' that they can always flee to so they can cover up their cowardice and flight from accountability.)

Rep. Terry Ridon (Bicol Saro Partylist) also called Duterte’s petition a “clear attempt to mislead both the Court and the public.”

“This petition is anchored on a misrepresentation of facts and a distorted interpretation of the Constitution and prevailing jurisprudence,” Ridon, a member of the House committee on justice, said in a statement.

In a separate statement, Duterte’s defense team said that the petition is to “seek clarity on fundamental constitutional questions.”

“To be clear, this is not about avoiding the process. This is about ensuring that the process itself complies with the Constitution. The House has the power to initiate impeachment, but that power is not without limits,” Duterte’s defense team said.