Vice Pres. Sara Duterte Files Petition Before Supreme Court over Impeachment
SARA DUTERTE – The Vice President seeks for an order from the Supreme Court for the House to stop the impeachment proceedings.
The House of Representatives Committee on Justice found two (2) impeachment complaints against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte sufficient in grounds. Four impeachment raps were filed against the Vice President in February.
The House Justice panel declared the first impeachment rap against Duterte as a violation against the one year rule ban. The second impeachment complaint was withdrawn by the complainants, the Tindig Pilipinas group.
The group decided to throw their support to the third impeachment case filed against Vice Pres. Sara Duterte. Thus, they withdraw their impeachment rap to avoid procedural delays.
Here are the grounds cited in the third impeachment rap filed against Duterte before the Office of the Secretary General of the House:
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over PHP 500 million confidential funds (CF) allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than PHP 112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection
The House Justice Committee continued with the impeachment proceedings despite the Congressional recess. It previously held the first hearing of the impeachment complaints but Duterte skipped the proceedings.
According to Atty. Michael Poa, one of the lawyers of the Vice President and the spokesperson of her legal team, the Vice President is allegedly not mandated to personally appear at the hearing. Her absence once again gained different reactions.
Recently, Vice Pres. Sara Duterte filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking for the court to order the House of Representatives and the House Committee on Justice to stop the impeachment proceedings. According to GMA News, the Vice President argued in a 58-page petition that the impeachment proceedings are allegedly unconstitutional.
Duterte seeks for the issuance of Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) by the Supreme Court. Based on the post, she stressed that the House Justice committee allegedly has no power to conduct trial.
The next impeachment hearing is set on April 14. Ombudsman Boying Remulla confirmed that their custodian will attend the hearing of Vice Pres. Sara Duterte’s impeachment case and issue a copy of her SALN (Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth).
