House urges Senate to order Vice President Sara Duterte to answer impeachment complaint 

MANILA. House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, representing the prosecution team, has formally requested Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero to issue a summons directing Vice President Sara Duterte to respond to the Articles of Impeachment against her.

In a motion filed with the Senate, Libanan called for Duterte to submit her answer “within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of the writ of summons.”

Libanan, alongside impeachment prosecutor 1-Rider Partylist Representative Rodge Gutierrez, led the filing on Tuesday morning, accompanied by Representatives Paolo Ortega and Jay Khonghun.

The prosecution panel based their request on Rule 7 of Senate Resolution No. 39 dated March 23, 2011, which states: “A writ of summons should be issued to the person impeached, reciting or incorporating said articles, and notifying him/her to appear before the Senate upon a day and at a place to be fixed by the Senate and named in such writ, and to file his/her Answer to said articles of impeachment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt thereof; to which the prosecutors may reply within an extendible period of five days therefrom.”

The same Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials further stipulate that these provisions “should remain in force until amended or repealed.”

“Such language is significant and has been determined by the Supreme Court to relay an intention for the said rules to be ‘valid from the date of their adoption until they are amended or repealed’ and ‘to be effective even in the next Congress,’” the prosecution’s submission to the Senate read.

“Thus, it behooves the Honorable Impeachment Court to give effect to the constitutional mandate for the instant impeachment case to ‘forthwith proceed’ and issue the writ of summons to respondent Duterte,” it added.

Senate’s Response

Responding to the request, Escudero stated that the Senate’s legal team would review the matter before taking any action.

“We will refer it to the Senate Legal Team and discuss it with them tomorrow. We will act on this accordingly and in due course,” Escudero said in a statement.

Earlier, Escudero released an initial timetable for the impeachment trial, with proceedings expected to commence on July 30.

Articles of Impeachment

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, citing betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes across seven Articles of Impeachment:

1. Conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez;
2. Malversation of PHP 612.5 million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;
3. Bribery and corruption in the Department of Education (DepEd), allegedly involving former Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (Procurement Head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan, and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda;
4. Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), with her declared wealth reportedly increasing fourfold from 2007 to 2017;
5. Involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City during her tenure as mayor;
6. Destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder efforts, including boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself “designated survivor,” leading protests calling for Marcos’ resignation, obstructing congressional investigations by instructing subordinates not to comply with subpoenas, and allegedly threatening harm against the First Couple and Romualdez;
7. The totality of Duterte’s conduct as Vice President.

A total of over 215 House members signed the impeachment complaint—well above the constitutionally required one-third of House members necessary to bypass committee-level deliberations and send the case directly to the Senate for trial.

Duterte’s Response

Vice President Duterte has stated that she has no plans to resign despite the impeachment proceedings against her.

While the impeachment court is yet to be convened, Duterte has also said that she will not appear in the hearings, as the rules allow.

She has instead filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition with the Supreme Court (SC), seeking an urgent temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to halt the impeachment trial. The Vice President’s petition challenges the validity and constitutionality of the complaint against her.

Additionally, several lawyers from Mindanao and other regions have petitioned the SC to order the Senate to cease and desist from conducting the impeachment trial, arguing that the complaint is procedurally defective.

In a 114-page petition, they further requested the SC to declare the Articles of Impeachment null and void.

As the Senate reviews the House’s request for a summons and the Supreme Court deliberates on Duterte’s legal challenge, the nation watches closely how this historic impeachment case will unfold.