Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Former Senator Leila de Lima speaks at the House of Representatives on October 22, 2024, during the Quad-Committee hearing on extrajudicial killings tied to former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File

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ABS-CBN News

<p>MANILA — Mamamayang Liberal Party-List Rep. Leila De Lima, who stood as spokesperson for a group that filed one of the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, said the Supreme Court engaged in legislation in its decision finding proceedings against Duterte unconstitutional.</p><p>In a statement Friday, De Lima said the SC&#x27;s decision released Thursday upholding its July 2025 ruling &quot;is not merely a denial of the [Motion for Reconsideration] or an affirmation of the original decision&quot; but is a new decision that also encroaches on the power of the legislative branch.</p><p>&quot;By redefining what constitutes the ‘initiation’ of impeachment and by converting legislative inaction into a constitutionally operative act, the Court has crossed from interpretation into legislation,&quot; De Lima, a lawyer and former justice secretary, said.</p><p>&quot;The Supreme Court has not merely reviewed the House’s compliance with clear constitutional commands—it has rewritten the operating manual for impeachment initiation. It has supplied new rules, new timelines, and new consequences that are nowhere found in the text,&quot; she said.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/1/29/sotto-calls-sc-ruling-on-duterte-impeachment-clear-encroachment-on-power-of-congress-1945">Sotto calls SC ruling on Duterte impeachment &#x27;clear encroachment&#x27; on power of Congress<br/></a></div><p>Senate President Vicente &quot;Tito&quot; Sotto III issued a similar statement on Thursday, saying the Supreme Court had committed overreach by &quot;introducing a rule for Congress to follow in the conduct of impeachment.&quot; </p><p>The 1987 Constitution gives Congress the power to initiate and try impeachment cases according to rules that the legislative branch adopts.</p><p>Aside from the president and vice president, Supreme Court justices and members of constitutional bodies like the Commission on Elections and Commission on Audit are impeachable officials.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;DUE PROCESS&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>The Supreme Court last July ruled that the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte — based on a fourth complaint that House members voted to endorse to the Senate for trial — violated a ban on initiating more than one impeachment proceeding against the same official in the same year.</p><p>Activist groups and members of civil society had filed earlier complaints that House leadership had yet to act on when the House impeached Duterte last February. </p><p>The court had also raised questions of due process in the impeachment proceedings, which the House had voted to adopt and send directly to the Senate for trial.</p><p>It said in its July 2025 ruling that the House is required to provide the respondent with a copy of the Articles of Impeachment and the evidence supporting it to give them the opportunity to respond</p><p>It also said the Articles of Impeachment and the evidence should be made available to all members of the House, not just those who would likely endorse it.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/1/30/sara-duterte-thankful-for-supreme-court-ruling-vs-house-abuse-of-impeachment-process-1002">Sara Duterte thankful for Supreme Court ruling vs House ‘abuse’ of impeachment process; lawyers ‘preparing’ for fresh ouster bid<br/></a></div><p>&quot;Thus, there must be some modicum of deliberation so that each member representing their constituents can be heard and thus convince others of their position,&quot; the Supreme Court Public Information Office said in a press release last July.</p><p>De Lima said Friday that the Supreme Court decision &quot;[disciplines] the procedure that the Constitution left for Congress to decide,&quot; which, she said sets a dangerous precedent of &quot;transforming impeachment from a political safeguard into a judicially managed process, contrary to the design and spirit of the Constitution.&quot;<strong> — Jonathan de Santos, ABS-CBN News</strong></p>

<p>"By redefining what constitutes the ‘initiation’ of impeachment and by converting legislative inaction into a constitutionally operative act, the Court has crossed from interpretation into legislation," De Lima, a lawyer and former justice secretary, said.</p>

"By redefining what constitutes the ‘initiation’ of impeachment and by converting legislative inaction into a constitutionally operative act, the Court has crossed from interpretation into legislation," De Lima, a lawyer and former justice secretary, said.

De Lima: SC ruling infringes on Congress power to set impeachment procedure

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De Lima: SC ruling infringes on Congress power to set impeachment procedure

ABS-CBN News

Published Jan 30, 2026 01:43 PM PHT

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Leila De Lima

Impeachment

Supreme Court

Sara Duterte

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