OPPOSITION groups and members of the House of Representatives on Thursday condemned the Senate’s decision to archive the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.
In the face of withering criticism of the decision, Senate President Francis Escudero hit politically motivated forces attempting to weaponize the impeachment process and warned that the Senate must not be used as a tool to pursue personal vendettas under the guise of accountability.
In a statement on Thursday, August Twenty-One Movement said the Senate archived its independence, as well as accountability and justice.
THUMBS DOWN Progressive groups stage an indignation rally on Aug. 7, 2025 in Boy Scout Circle in Quezon City against the Senate’s decision to archive Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial. The protesters condemned the senators whom they alleged have chosen impunity over accountability after voting yes to archiving the impeachment case even as a motion for reconsideration remain pending in the Supreme Court. PHOTOS BY ISMAEL DE JUAN
“We strongly condemn the decision of the Senate to archive the articles of impeachment against the vice president. This move, premature, unjustified and dangerous, was anchored solely on a Supreme Court ruling that is not final, factually flawed and currently under a pending motion for reconsideration,” the group said. “Many senators defended their vote by citing the principles of separation of powers and the need to respect the judiciary. But their words ring hollow. What was done is not out of respect, it is capitulation.”
“In choosing to abandon their constitutional duty as the sole court for impeachment, the Senate has effectively allowed the Supreme Court to interfere in a process that should belong to Congress alone,” it added. “That is not how checks and balances work. That is how accountability dies.”
The opposition Liberal Party (LP) of the Philippines called the Senate’s decision on Wednesday night a betrayal of public trust.
In a statement, acting LP president Erin Tañada asked why the Senate was so swift to act to archive the impeachment complaint.
“After dragging their feet for months, the Senate suddenly found the will to act — not to investigate, not to seek the truth, but to bury the case against Vice President Sara Duterte. A case the House courageously pursued. A case the public has been demanding answers for,” Tañada said.
“They claim they are merely respecting the Supreme Court’s decision. But that decision is not final. A motion for reconsideration is pending. And no less than respected former justices and legal scholars have called on the Court to revisit its position. There is still room to correct the course. Yet the Senate acted like it couldn’t wait to shut the doors on the people’s right to know,” the party added.
It also hit the Senate for delaying the impeachment process, delaying it for months.
“Now they claim their hands are tied? Now they pretend they had no choice? The inconsistency is glaring. The hypocrisy is shameless,” LP said.
“By archiving the case, the Senate didn’t just kill the complaint. They undermined the very mechanism meant to keep our highest officials in check. They failed the Constitution. They failed the public,” it added. “But this is not the end. A new complaint can — and will — be filed. The people will not forget who stood in the way of accountability. And come February, we will remember.”
‘Archiving equals burying’
In the House of Representatives, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said the “burial” of the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte was rushed.
“To archive is, in effect, to bury the articles of impeachment. Yet the ruling of the Supreme Court is not final,” Romualdez said in a statement on Thursday.
“Let’s be clear: The filing of the complaint was not rushed. What was rushed — remarkably — was its burial,” he said.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives filed a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court on the latter’s decision that the complaint was barred by the one-year rule.
“This was never about political maneuvering,” he said.
“Yet we have been met with personal attacks, sweeping accusations… That’s not just unfair — it is dangerous. It undermines public trust in the very tools of democratic checks and balances,” he said.
“We exercised that power lawfully, transparently and in good faith — not out of spite, but out of duty. Not to attack, but to ask for answers,” Romualdez said.
Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., meanwhile, denied accusations that the House weaponized impeachment.
“The House did not weaponize impeachment — we exercised it in accordance with the Constitution. The question before us was not ‘Who wants to run in 2028?’ but ‘Were public funds used in a manner that requires accountability?’” Abante said.
Senate vote
With 19 senators voting in favor, four opposing and one abstaining, the Senate on Wednesday night voted to archive the articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte, following a Supreme Court ruling that declared the complaint unconstitutional.
The chamber opted to shelve, but not dismiss, the impeachment case that stemmed from multiple allegations against the vice president, including betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution.
The move came after the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment was barred by the Constitution’s one-year rule and violated Duterte’s right to due process, effectively rendering the articles null and void.
“Let history record that in this moment, we chose the Constitution, we chose the rule of law,” said Escudero, who voted to archive the case.
The articles of impeachment were filed by the House of Representatives on Feb. 5, with over 200 lawmakers endorsing the charges. Duterte denied all allegations, calling the complaint a “scrap of paper” and entering a plea of not guilty.
The decision to archive the case followed a motion by Rep. Rodante Marcoleta, a Duterte ally, which was amended by Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva to allow for possible revival of the case, pending the outcome of the Supreme Court appeals.
Among those who voted in favor of archiving were Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Ronald Dela Rosa, Sherwin Gatchalian, Bong Go, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, and siblings Camille and Mark Villar. Juan Miguel Zubiri, former Senate president, also supported the move, saying archiving allows flexibility if the Supreme Court reverses itself.
“That will never stop us from being able to pull out the document from the archives,” Zubiri said.
Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III, along with Risa Hontiveros, Francis Pangilinan and Bam Aquino, voted against the motion. They argued that the Senate should wait for the Supreme Court to resolve the pending motions for reconsideration before taking any action.
“How can the Senate archive something that is not before it?” asked Sotto.
“May God have mercy on your decision.”
Despite the Supreme Court ruling, some lawmakers voiced concern over what they see as judicial overreach into what has traditionally been a political process reserved for Congress.
“Today, we are voting to abandon [our] mandate,” said Hontiveros.
“Impeachment should not be difficult and technical. That’s contrary to the framers’ intent.”
Pangilinan said the impeachment court was “being ousted from its jurisdiction by the Supreme Court… based on the wrong facts.”
“We took an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution and that includes our own determination whether or not the nullification, the acts of the impeachment court and exclusive sole power to try and decide impeachment, was based on the facts and not on a misapprehension of the facts,” Pangilinan said in his explanation of vote on Wednesday.
He also said that the Senate should have respected the House as a “co-equal,” giving it inter-chamber courtesy by letting its motion be resolved first before acting on the articles of impeachment.
“I reiterate: one cannot be right with the law if one is wrong with the facts. And that’s why the motion for reconsideration is very important. There is still an opportunity for the errors to be corrected, that’s why the motion for reconsideration is there,” Pangilinan added.
‘Not a playground’
Speaking after the Senate voted on Wednesday night to archive the impeachment complaint, Escudero emphasized the need to uphold constitutional processes and respect the rule of law.
“The Senate is not a playground for political actors seeking revenge or power. We are a constitutional body tasked with upholding justice — not bending the law to fit anyone’s agenda,” Escudero said.
Protecting power
Former senator and Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said what the Senate did was to protect power instead of upholding accountability. She also maintained that their fight is not yet over.
“There is still a motion for reconsideration from the House and other movant-intervenors. These contain sharp and substantial critiques of the Supreme Court’s decision,” de Lima said in a statement in Filipino.
“Many of the facts laid out by the Court were flawed. The House did, in fact, vote on the impeachment in plenary. The Court should not have relied on a news report when the official House Journal was available. Primary sources matter more than secondary sources. One cannot afford to be careless with footnotes just because they’re written in small print,” she added.
The Akbayan party-list also denounced the Senate’s archival of the impeachment trial.
“The Senate is [a] farce. They are a group of clowns who enjoy fooling the Filipino people. We should not be fooled by their play with words, archiving is the same as killing the impeachment. Archival is dismissal,” the party-list said late on Wednesday.
“By prematurely archiving the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, even as a motion for reconsideration remains pending before the Supreme Court, it has chosen impunity over accountability,” they added. “The senators may have denied the impeachment on its day in court, but they will not escape the judgment of the people. History will remember those who turned their backs on justice. The people shall remember who they must hold accountable.”
