Vice President Sara Duterte urged the Supreme Court not to overturn its July 25 decision that voided the impeachment complaint against her, arguing that the ruling “requires no factual correction,” contrary to the position of the House of Representatives.
Through her defense lawyers, Duterte cautioned that a reversal would embolden those in power to “disregard constitutional restraints in the impeachment process” and exploit any “loophole” against political rivals.
In a 27-page comment filed Monday, Duterte’s legal team blasted the House’s motion for reconsideration (MR) as being rooted in “mere diversions obsessed with trivia and blind to the (Supreme Court) decision’s genuine core reasoning.”
Her lawyers dismantled the House’s three central claims:
- That the Court misconstrued the timeline since the first three impeachment complaints were archived before the fourth was filed.
- That the Court erred in ruling the fourth complaint was transmitted to the Senate without a plenary vote.
- That it wrongly decided prior complaints were deemed dismissed due to Congress’ adjournment.
The Duterte camp stressed that the “wafer-thin proximity” between the archiving of the three complaints and the filing of the fourth on February 5—later transmitted to the Senate—proved the House’s sequencing argument carried no real weight.