House: Nobody can stop impeachment

HOUSE of Representatives prosecutors said Wednesday that Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial could not be stopped despite the Senate sending the case back to them hours after convening as a court.

Prosecutors told an afternoon press briefing their case had complied strictly with the Constitution, adding they would seek clarification over what they called “confusing” Senate orders.

Duterte was impeached in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against former ally and running mate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

IN LIMBO Members of the House of Representatives’ prosecution team discuss their next move regarding the remanded articles of impeachment during a press briefing on June 11, 2025. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE

A guilty verdict would see her removed from office and permanently barred from running for office.

“No one can stop this anymore, because jurisdiction has been acquired already by the impeachment court,” said Rep. Gerville Luistro, pointing to the Senate’s issuing of a summons for Duterte late Wednesday night.

“There will be no… withdrawal ​[of the impeachment case​] by the House. That is not allowed by the Constitution.”

Tuesday night’s 18-5 Senate vote ordered the House to certify it had not violated the Constitution by hearing three impeachment complaints before the one that ultimately went to a vote.

The Constitution bars subjecting anyone to multiple impeachment proceedings within the same year.

But House member Ysabel Maria Zamora said the final impeachment complaint had “consolidated all the articles” of the first three into one.

Luistro said the prosecution followed fully and strictly the requirements of the Constitution. “We did not violate the one-year prohibition rule,” Luistro said.

She also said a second order to guarantee the case would move forward after new House members take their seats on June 30 was “impossible” to fulfill as they could not speak for a future Congress.

Senate treachery

The decision of the Senate to remand the impeachment complaint against Duterte was roundly criticized, and senators who voted to do so were denounced for failing to do their constitutional duty.

Akbayan representative-elect Chel Diokno said the Senate’s remand order was an “abandonment of the Constitution.”

“The Constitution is not just any piece of paper. It is the will of the people. We cannot just throw it away. That’s why we are worried at what the Senate did,” Diokno said.

Camarines Sur Rep. Gabriel Bordado, one of the sponsors of the third impeachment complaint, did not hide his disappointment.

“I was really stunned by what happened last night. I did not expect that it would happen and after the verbal gymnastics of the Senate president, they remanded the case that was pushed by the House of Representatives. It is insulting!” Bordado said in English and Filipino.

The August Twenty One Movement called the Senate vote “a big treacherous act against the people.”

“Not only did it violate the Constitution for several months, after a simple ‘forthwith’ became a record slowest forthwith in the history of this Constitution. They betrayed the people’s trust by this single act of cowardice,” the group said.

Former Magdalo representative Gary Alejano, among the original petitioners of the impeachment complaint, said the ruling of the senator-judges was “not only procedurally questionable but constitutionally troubling.”

“The Senate and the House are co-equal branches in our bicameral Congress. The House has already fulfilled its constitutional mandate by transmitting the verified impeachment complaint. The matter is now squarely within the Senate’s jurisdiction — to hear, try and decide,” Alejano said in a statement.

“To send the complaint back is, in effect, passing the ball when it is no longer theirs to play. It undermines the integrity of the process and raises the dangerous precedent that a co-equal chamber can dictate or delay the work of another,” said Alejano.

Former senator and incoming congresswoman Leila de Lima said the senators “lit the Constitution aflame” by remanding the impeachment complaint back to the House.

“We have just witnessed proceedings without boundaries, while the Constitution, the law and the rules burn,” she said.

“Since the filing of the articles of impeachment last February, the Senate President [Francis Escudero] already discarded the Constitution, by refusing to understand the word ‘forthwith,’ now the Senate, as an impeachment court, has just lit the Constitution aflame. All the proceedings and motions taken in the so-called impeachment court are without legal basis,” she added.

Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV on Wednesday called on the people to push the Senate in continuing the impeachment trial.

He also cited the fact that the impeachment court already convened despite attempts to stop it.

“Let’s continue pushing for the impeachment trial to hold Sara accountable for her crimes. We also need to get involved in the upcoming street protests and raise our voices on social media. Let’s make our feelings known to the Senators,” he said in Filipino.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Akbayan Party-list president Rafaela David called out the senators for abandoning their constitutional mandate.

“It’s not like online shopping that they can simply return it to the chamber. This odious act of the upper chamber is an abandonment of their duties. Tonight, they disrespected their oaths and the Constitution,” she said.

“At a time when our people deserve nothing short of decisive action and courageous leadership from our senators, their cowardice got the better of them,” David added.

She, Trillanes and de Lima also welcomed the five senators who voted against the motion of Sens. Ronald Dela Rosa and Alan Peter Cayetano, namely Sens. Risa Hontiveros from Akbayan, Aquilino Pimentel III, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay and Sherwin Gatchalian.

“Only five showed up to work at the Senate. Their outnumbered vote was the principled, correct and constitutional vote. In the next few days, they’ll know that the people are on their side,” David said.

Akbayan, which topped the recent party-list elections, called on Filipinos to mobilize against the Senate’s latest vote, warning them of legal challenges to its dismissal.

“Those senators seem to have forgotten that the 1987 Constitution was born out of the people’s outrage over government impunity and the total disregard of the rule of law. Are they not scared of the power of the people?” David warned.

“Those who voted to remand the impeachment are a clear threat to our people and to our democratic foundations. Tonight, impunity won. Tomorrow and in the coming days, we take it out to the streets and reclaim what’s ours,” she added.

Bagong Alyansang Makabayan president Renato Reyes also joined the chorus of condemnation against the senators, calling it an abdication of their mandate.

“After dribbling the ball for four months, the Senate sought to pass the ball back to the Lower House. It is a shameless abdication of their constitutional mandate that will not be soon forgotten. Those in power have again chosen to uphold impunity and set aside accountability,” he said in a statement.

The University of the Philippines-Manila’s Department of Social Sciences called the actions of the Senate “unconstitutional.”

“The Senate is a co-equal legislative body of the House of Representatives and its mandate is to decide upon the matter at hand by proceeding with the trial. It does not have the authority to review or return said Articles of Impeachment to the other chamber,” the department said.

“Accordingly, the Department urges everyone to strengthen the call for accountability from the members of both chambers. Now is not the time to permit delay, obstruction or evasion in the pursuit of justice,” it added. “Public office is a public trust. The current dilatory acts of the Senate are an affront to the mandate entrusted to it by the very electorate they have sworn to serve.”

Davao City-based Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao also joined the chorus in condemning the members of the Impeachment Court and called on them to reconsider and reverse its decision.

“The Senate’s decision to remand the impeachment articles is a disingenuous maneuver that functionally dismisses the impeachment case against Vice President Duterte,” the group said. “This is a betrayal of its constitutional duty and a clear attempt to shield a high-ranking official from accountability.”

The Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment also condemned the Senate’s “lack of backbone” in impeaching the vice president.

“Despite clear constitutional requirements, the Senate has stalled yet again — echoing public outcry that summary dismissal would violate the 1987 Constitution, abdicating their constitutional mandate. Senate President Chiz Escudero and the rest of the chamber are complicit in shielding corruption and obstruction of justice,” the environmentalists group said.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Health Workers said the P125 million in confidential funds used by Duterte could have been used in the health sector.

“The P125 million in confidential funds used by Vice President Sara Duterte without transparency could have been used to pay the long-overdue health emergency allowances of health workers in private and local government hospitals. It could have been spent on much-needed medicines and medical supplies for public hospitals — so that our struggling fellow Filipinos can avail it,” the group said.

“While government officials squander public funds, we health workers continue to struggle with low wages, unpaid benefits and unsafe working conditions — while poor Filipinos are continually denied access to free and quality health care. The Senate’s recent action only deepens the ongoing political crisis by shielding those in power and refusing to hold them accountable,” they added.

The Movement Against Tyranny called the Senate’s remand a “green light for impunity.

“The 18 senators who voted to remand the impeachment complaint against VP Sara Duterte are robbing the people of justice. They add to the institutionalization of impunity and for the normalization of tyranny in governance,” the movement said.

On Tuesday night, the senators issued a writ of summons directing the vice president to respond to allegations against her. The Office of the Vice President later confirmed receiving the summons.

In the face of mounting criticism, Escudero said there “was no intention to dismiss this case” and that the remand would allow prosecutors to address key questions effectively without wasting the court’s time.

He clarified that the recent vote did not imply any judgment regarding violations associated with the one-year ban nor signal the upcoming Congress’ desire to abandon the impeachment complaint.

In a media briefing, Escudero said the Senate and the House are not equal partners in the impeachment process. He said that while the Senate and the House are co-equal branches of government, their functions differ significantly regarding impeachment. He said that when the Senate serves as the impeachment court, members of the House, who act as prosecutors, must adhere to the directives issued by the Senate.

“We are not equal when it comes to this matter. This is not the case in the House and Senate, where those agencies are co-equal. In the impeachment process, the Senate is the court and the House of Representatives is the prosecutor,” he said.

Escudero said the senators would wait for compliance from Duterte and the House prosecutors.

Asked about criticism that the Senate move was unconstitutional, Escudero said only the Supreme Court could say “what is legal and what is not.”

Senator-elect Panfilo Lacson, meanwhile, said it was improper for Senator Dela Rosa to call for the case’s dismissal.

WITH ARIC JOHN SY CUA, JAVIER JOE ISMAEL, BERNADETTE E. TAMAYO, FRANCO JOSE C. BAROÑA AND AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE