Julia Christine Botin

UP Law faculty urgently calls on Senate to begin Sara Duterte impeachment trial

Article (news)

Rowegie Abanto

ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Some 97 members of the University of the Philippines College of Law Faculty on Thursday urged the Senate to &quot;forthwith proceed&quot; with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte &quot;to let the truth unfold.&quot;</p><p>In an <a href="https://law.upd.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Open-Letter-and-Urgent-Call-to-the-Senate-of-the-Philippines-to-Commence-the-Impeachment-Trial-of-VP-Sara-Duterte.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawKt5YtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFUNkhmTXU5MmhWRkpER2NMAR7Xz4SnZKALbodmhcmoetpCWFqsTrK4_OWW6x-PuzcDz0_U_YlDrriAVz1Eqw_aem_XQACBqHx9LRqmusTr4SzAQ">open letter to urgently call on the commencement of the Senate trial</a>, individual members of the UP Law, which included the country&#x27;s respected legal luminaries and teachers of constitutional law, expressed their &quot;grave concern&quot; regarding proposals to declare the impeachment case as &quot;de facto dismissed.&quot;</p><p>On Wednesday, a draft resolution to throw out the impeachment case of Duterte circulated on social media, with Duterte ally and <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/4/dela-rosa-admits-initiating-resolution-on-dropping-sara-duterte-impeachment-trial-1734">Sen. Ronald &quot;Bato&quot; dela Rosa admitting initiating the resolution</a>.</p><p>Sen. Imee Marcos also confirmed Wednesday the existence of several draft resolutions seeking to dismiss the articles of impeachment against Duterte.</p><p>Senate officials, meanwhile, said nothing had been filed yet.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;DRAFT RESOLUTIONS LACK PROPER READING OF CHARTER&#x27;<br/></strong></div><p>The grounds cited in the draft resolutions, the UP Law faculty said, were &quot;unsupported by factual developments and a proper reading of the Constitution.&quot;</p><p>&quot;A premature dismissal will undermine the core democratic principle of checks and balances,&quot; they said, adding that holding the trial would &quot;uphold the Senate&#x27;s constitutional mandate on public trust and accountability.&quot;</p><p>The professors said they expressed deep concern with the moves to preemptively dismiss the impeachment case not because they necessarily believe in the charges.</p><p>It is because, they said, they &quot;wish to see the evidence, hear the Vice-President&#x27;s defense, and with our fellow Filipinos, judge for ourselves her fitness to continue in public service.&quot;</p><p>&quot;In these difficult moments, the people look to their Senate to be the forum for the country’s most important truth-telling procedure because of its seniority, independence, and reputation for statesmanship,&quot; the UP Law faculty said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;DISMISSING IMPEACHMENT CASE TO PERMANENTLY ALTER CHECKS AND BALANCES&#x27;</strong></div><p>They also warned that the Senate&#x27;s dismissal of the impeachment case &quot;without hearing even a single witness will mean its abandonment of its proud tradition as an august chamber and permanently alter our system of checks and balances.&quot;</p><p>The move will also &quot;undermine the people’s trust in the Senate as an independent and impartial institution before which the highest officials of the land may demonstrate and prove their fealty to the principles of accountability, public service, and democracy.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Respectfully, a dismissal at this point would be deemed by the Filipino people as effectively engineered by the Senate&#x27;s own delay and an abdication of its constitutional role in impeachment,&quot; they said.</p><p>Paolo Tamase, UP Law assistant professor and one of the signatories of the open letter, told ANC that the draft proposals to junk the impeachment case &quot;should be worrying for any concerned citizen.&quot;</p><p>Forgoing the impeachment trial &quot;using technicalities&quot; could be seen as the Senate abandoning impeachment as an accountability mechanism, he said.</p><p>&quot;I think it is important for citizens to watch the next few days not just because we want to make sure that the Senate does its job, but because we want to have more information on who to elect in the next round,&quot; Tamase said.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>CAN IMPEACHMENT CROSS TO 20TH CONGRESS?</strong></div><p>Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for &quot;high crimes&quot; including corruption and an alleged assassination plot against former ally and running mate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.</p><p>Senate President Chiz Escudero announced that the prosecution panel&#x27;s scheduled presentation at the Senate would be moved to June 11 instead of June 2, citing the tackling of &quot;priority legislative measures before the 19th Congress adjourns&quot; as the reason for the postponement.</p><p>He said that the Senate plenary <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/3/chiz-says-senate-plenary-to-vote-if-impeachment-trial-will-continue-0950">will decide if the impeachment trial of Duterte can cross over to the 20th Congress</a>.</p><p>UP Law faculty said: &quot;[T]he question of whether trial should continue after the Senate adjourns sine die should not be preempted by the 19th Congress but should be left to the 20th Congress.&quot;</p><p>&quot;For the Senate to decide for the 20th Congress would be undemocratic, contrary to the very rationale underlying the &#x27;non-continuing body&#x27; argument.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;IMPEACHMENT TRIAL RESTS ON HIGHER PLANE&#x27;</strong></div><p>Views that support the preemptive dismissal of the impeachment case cited Supreme Court pronouncements, which the UP Law faculty said should be read in their proper context.</p><p>&quot;As to the Senate not being a &#x27;continuing body,&#x27; proponents cite Neri v. Senate and Balag v. Senate. These cases are not applicable to impeachment as they both concern legislative investigations,&quot; they said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/6/3/chiz-impeachment-delay-neither-favors-nor-prejudices-either-side-1210">Chiz: Impeachment delay neither favors nor prejudices Duterte team, prosecutors</a></div><p>They added that &quot;while Rule XLIV, Section 123 of the Senate provides that &#x27;all pending matters and proceedings shall terminate upon the expiration of one (1) Congress,&#x27; congressional practice has always applied this to regular legislative and non-legislative business contemplated in Article VI of the Constitution.&quot;</p><p>&quot;[I]mpeachment is not an ordinary legislative and non-legislative business: it is a distinct and singularly important constitutional duty,&quot; the professors said.</p><p>&quot;In contrast to the hundreds of bills, resolutions, and investigations that the Senate deals with, the trial of an impeachment rests on a higher plane.&quot;</p><div><strong></strong><strong>— With reports from Jauhn Etienne Villaruel and RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News;  Agence France-Presse  </strong></div><div><br/></div><div><strong></strong><strong>RELATED VIDEO:</strong></div><div><strong><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/tM9e5Iw9Vfk?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>In an <a href="https://law.upd.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Open-Letter-and-Urgent-Call-to-the-Senate-of-the-Philippines-to-Commence-the-Impeachment-Trial-of-VP-Sara-Duterte.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawKt5YtleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFUNkhmTXU5MmhWRkpER2NMAR7Xz4SnZKALbodmhcmoetpCWFqsTrK4_OWW6x-PuzcDz0_U_YlDrriAVz1Eqw_aem_XQACBqHx9LRqmusTr4SzAQ">open letter</a>, individual members of the UP Law, which included the country's respected legal luminaries and teachers of constitutional law, expressed their "grave concern" regarding proposals to declare the impeachment case as "de facto dismissed."</p>

In an open letter , individual members of the UP Law, which included the country's respected legal luminaries and teachers of constitutional law, expressed their "grave concern" regarding proposals to declare the impeachment case as "de facto dismissed."