Jamaine Punzalan

Senate President Chiz Escudero and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Yummie Dingding, PPA Pool

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MARCOS-EDUCATION

Paige Javier

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/174960706470220240603-marcos-kabalikat-pagtuturo-PPA-09.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Senate President Chiz Escudero and House Speaker Martin Romualdez. <em>Yummie Dingding, PPA Pool</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA — While the House of Representatives can refuse to accept the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte that the Senate voted to send back, there is another &quot;practical&quot; approach to the issue, an expert said Tuesday morning.</p><p>Eighteen senators on Tuesday voted in favor of the motion to remand the impeachment case back to the House, which must now certify that it did not violate the constitution and that it remains willing to prosecute the case when its new members take their seats on June 30.</p><p>The move violates the “constitutional structure” as “it seems to make the Senate the supervisor of the House”, said Paolo Tamase, an assistant professor of the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law.</p><p>&quot;The power of the Senate is to try and decide. It cannot second guess a co-equal body’s exercise of its exclusive power to initiate an impeachment proceeding,&quot; added UP College of Law assistant professor Michael Tiu. </p><p>Asked whether the House could refuse to take back the impeachment case, Tamase said, “If you want a legal answer, I think they can. It’s an unconstitutional act so they can reject it.”</p><p>“But the practical action might be for the House to comply, but comply with an indication that they found this act to be offensive,” he told ANC.</p><p>“This doesn’t stop the House from protesting how this violates the co-equality between the Senate and the House,&quot; he said. </p><p>House lawmakers were “still waiting for how the leadership will decide on this issue,” Assistant Majority Leader and Tingog Party-list Rep. Jude Acidre said at around 8 a.m. </p><p>At least two other lawmakers said the House would meet on Tuesday morning to decide its next steps.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;WHAT ELSE IS MISSING?&#x27; </strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/qVEH6YgX6fo?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>The House impeached Duterte in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos. A conviction, which requires the support of two-thirds of the Senate&#x27;s 24 members, would mean her removal as vice president and a permanent ban from public office.</p><p>But just hours after senators had taken their oaths as jurors on Tuesday, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa introduced a motion to dismiss the impeachment case.</p><p>He argued that earlier complaints filed against Duterte in the House, which did not make it past the committee level, had constituted multiple impeachment proceedings within a year, something banned under the Philippine constitution.</p><p>The motion was later amended in favor of sending the case back to the House, which must now certify that it did not violate the constitution and that it remains willing to prosecute the case when its new members take their seats on June 30.</p><p>Under the Constitution, “there’s no such scenario that the Senate can remand” an impeachment case, Acidre asserted.</p><p>“Kung ang hinahanap nila is yung certification [that we did not violate the constitution], the articles of impeachment is already the certification because we affixed our signatures there. We endorsed it,” he told DZMM. </p><p>“I’m actually at a quandary. Hindi ko maisip ano pang kulang, ano pang kailangan.”</p><p>He also added that all government acts are presumed to be regular “unless there is compelling evidence otherwise” and that House’s transmittal of the impeachment articles to the Senate “would already be proof enough.”  </p><p>“And’yan pa rin yung paniniwala natin na in the end, the system will correct itself. Of course, sabi nga namin, ang institusyon, hindi naman ‘yan autopilot, kailangan ng taongbayan manindigan, kailangan ng Congress manindigan,” Acidre added.</p><p>“I’m hopeful lang na in the end, sana hindi naman sa technicality. Karapatan ng taongbayan malaman ang taongbayan… ang nasasakdal, karapatan din niya na malinis, maipagtanggol ang kaniyang pangalan. At mangyayari lang ito kung magkaroon ng trial,” he said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;YOU CHOSE SILENCE&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña questioned the Senate’s move.  </p><p>“Hindi nirespeto ang Konstitusyon sa ginawa nilang boto. Pinili nilang itakwil ang kanilang sinumpaang tungkulin,” he said in a statement.  </p><p>“The people expected the Senate to display their courage — pero pinili nilang magpakaduwag,” the lawmaker said.  </p><p>Last December 2024, Akbayan Party-list endorsed the first impeachment complaint filed against Duterte by civil society groups and families of drug war victims. Cendaña also signed the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte, which was later on endorsed by over 200 lawmakers and transmitted to the Senate in February.  </p><p>Mamamayang Liberal party-list Representative-elect Atty. Leila De Lima also criticized the Senate’s decision.  </p><p>“Harap-harapan na tayong niloloko. Sila ang nagtanong, sila rin ang sumagot. Walang due process. Walang hiya. Ano ito—korte o kulto?” said De Lima, who was tapped to join the House prosecution panel for the impeachment trial of Duterte.  </p><p>“There is no rule that allows this. No justice in shutting the door before the people can speak. No truth in a court that silences both sides,” she added.  </p><p>De Lima thanked the five senators who voted against the decision to remand the articles of impeachment: Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, Sherwin Gatchalian and Koko Pimentel.</p><p>“This is not just a setback. It is a stain—on the Senate, on the law, on the very idea that accountability is still possible in this country,&quot; De Lima said.</p><p>Addressing the Ssnators who voted to return the impeachment complaint to the House, she said, &quot;You had one job: to let the truth be heard. Instead, you chose silence dressed as procedure. Delay disguised as order. Cowardice  in the costume of rules. Pero tandaan niyo ito: hindi kami tatahimik. At hindi lahat ng dinadaan sa teknikalidad ay nakakalimutan,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;Hindi pa ito tapos. The fight for truth continues—outside your halls, beyond your rules, and with the people who still believe that justice must prevail,&quot; De Lima added. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;FUNCTIONAL DISMISSAL&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Hontiveros has warned that returning the case to the lower body was an abrogation of responsibility that would see it ultimately disappear.</p><p>&quot;Remanding is a functional dismissal,&quot; she said, later adding the impeachment complaint was &quot;being dismantled brick by brick&quot;.</p><p>Senate President Francis Escudero, however, insisted there was no such motive behind the body&#x27;s decision.</p><p>&quot;The intention is to give the prosecutors an opportunity to answer certain questions in a manner that does not waste the time of the court,&quot; he said.</p><p>Following the vote, Escudero issued a summons for the vice president, who will have 10 days from its receipt to answer the impeachment charges.</p><p>On Monday, Duterte&#x27;s defence team said in a statement they were &quot;ready to confront the charges and expose the baselessness of the accusations against the Vice President&quot;.</p><div><strong>— With a report from Agence France-Presse<br/></strong></div>

<p>The House of Representatives on Tuesday morning has yet to decide whether or not it would take back the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte that the Senate voted to send back.</p>

The House of Representatives on Tuesday morning has yet to decide whether or not it would take back the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte that the Senate voted to send back.

House can reject Duterte impeachment case sent back by Senate: expert

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House can reject Duterte impeachment case sent back by Senate: expert

Jamaine Punzalan,

Paige Javier,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jun 11, 2025 10:26 AM PHT

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Updated Jun 11, 2025 12:45 PM PHT

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