The House of Representatives will adhere to the Supreme Court’s updated guidelines should an impeachment complaint be filed against Vice President Sara Duterte, Antipolo City 1st District Representative Ronaldo Puno said Friday.
In a press briefing, Puno explained that lawmakers are expected to take a slower, more deliberate approach that emphasizes due process and documentary completeness before any case can advance.
“Any further impeachment complaints will have to follow the process now under the new guidelines of the Supreme Court decision. In other words, things like kailangan na sabihan mo ‘yung akusado kung ano ‘yung mga charges, they will be given an opportunity to answer,” he said.
“I think what the Supreme Court decision did was it reduced the political character of impeachment and made it more of a judicial process,” Puno added.
He distinguished between discussions surrounding the Vice President and those involving the President, noting that the two situations differ in terms of groundwork.
“The case against Vice President Sara, talagang na-imbestigahan na nang husto ‘yan, in the Quad Comm and then specific grounds were already stated in the complaint before,” he said.
“Yung against President Marcos, that’s only speculative, wala naman lumalabas. Has there been any complaint that has been serious? Parang wala,” Puno remarked.
Asked about the National Unity Party’s stance, Puno said: “I was asked a question about whether or not the NUP was going to support an impeachment complaint against President Marcos and my answer was definitely obviously no. When I was asked in the same manner, are you going to support or deny an impeachment claim against the Vice President, I said, well actually this is already the second time. I want our party to see the complaint and read over it and study it very carefully and decide according to the new rules that have been set by the Supreme Court.”
With impeachment now taking on a more court-like pace, Puno stressed that lawmakers, particularly those in the majority, must approach any complaint with restraint, scrutiny, and patience rather than pressure-driven decisions.
He explained that under the old practice, impeachment cases could move quickly once a complaint gathered enough signatures. The Supreme Court’s ruling, however, has tightened the process, making it harder for impeachment efforts to be treated as mere numbers games.
Because of these new conditions, Puno said attempts to fast-track an impeachment case to the Senate through a sudden show of signatures would be difficult under the revised framework.