Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

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<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1771473748187photo-collage.png (3)_cropped_processed_by_imagy.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Maria Tan, George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News/File</span></span></span></div><div><br/></div><p>MANILA<strong> (UPDATE)</strong> — The Supreme Court’s January ruling maintaining that the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte are unconstitutional remains a topic of discussion among former Supreme Court justices and members of the academe.</p><p>The ruling is “very inconsistent” in comparison to SC&#x27;s July 2025 decision, according to former Supreme Court associate justice Antonio Carpio during a forum at the University of the Philippines Diliman on Thursday.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/1/29/supreme-court-affirms-sara-duterte-impeachment-unconstitutional-1427">Supreme Court affirms Sara Duterte impeachment unconstitutional</a></div><p>“But at the same time, the court said we are dismissing the first impeachment complaint because there was a constitutional infirmity by the Congress. So, okay, when you initiate an impeachment complaint, it is now in the Committee on Justice. But at the same time, the court said, ‘We dismiss it because there is a constitutional infirmity. You did not vote at the plenary level.’ But at the same time, in the new decision, the court said there was a vote in the plenary level. So very inconsistent,” Carpio said.</p><p>Carpio even likened the Supreme Court’s handling of the impeachment to “chop suey.”</p><p>“The court said there was no violation of the Constitution. So it&#x27;s really chop suey,” Carpio said.</p><p>On Wednesday, the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed at the House of Representatives. This happened the same day Duterte said she would be running for president in the 2028 elections.</p><p>But Carpio said the “fast track mode” of impeachment, which refers to endorsement of a complaint by one-third of members of the House for transmittal, is now a possibility again after the Supreme Court supposedly “walked back” on additional requirements.</p><p>“As far to the second mode, we don’t have any problem anymore because the court completely walked back all of those additional requirements,” Carpio added.</p><p>Makabayan lawmakers previously slammed the court over the ruling over “rewriting” rules of impeachment and allegedly disabling the “fast track mode.”</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;SESSION DAYS&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Carpio also criticized the Supreme Court’s definition of session days, saying the concept of this being a calendar day where there was a plenary session “was never a legal concept” prior to the release of a January 2026 decision by the court.</p><p>“So if today is the last day under the law to enact the budget, they would say, ‘We are suspending the session or we are going to have a recess until we will resume tomorrow.’ So in that way, they stop the clock, and today and tomorrow is just one session day although there are two calendar days. That was the concept of this session day… But today in the decision of January 28, 2026, in the resolution resolving the MR, the Supreme Court said Congress was wrong. Session days mean calendar day where there are plenary sessions,” Carpio said.</p><p>“So this concept of session day as a calendar day where there are plenary session was never a legal concept before January 28, 2026– not in the US. No court ever said that. No legislature ever adopted that rule. In the Philippines, no court ever said that. No legislature ever adopted that rule. So it’s a totally new concept,” Carpio added.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>AZCUNA HITS SC OVER WRITING ‘RULES FOR THEIR OWN IMPEACHMENT’</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>During the forum, 1986 Constitutional Commission member and retired Supreme Court associate justice Adolfo Azcuna alleged the Supreme Court went beyond the scope of their powers because they supposedly made guidelines on the procedure for impeachment.</p><p>“Being themselves impeachable, they cannot be the ones to write the rules for their own impeachment. That would be violation of due process and violation of fairness. So for them to make guidelines on the procedure for impeachment is, I think, beyond the scope of their powers because precisely they are impeachable officials,” Azcuna said.</p><p>But when asked if the court overstepped in the decision on Duterte’s impeachment, Carpio said this was seen only in the first decision.</p><p>“Overstepping was in the main decision. In this new decision, they walked back completely the second mode. ‘Yung mga additional requirements tinanggal nila lahat we’re back to the status quo before the July 25, 2025 main decision. Ang problema na lang ‘yung they made a new definition of session day. That is where we disagree. But that’s the law of the land already so we just have to follow that. That has an impact on the present impeachment complaints against VP Sara because calendar days na ang bilang where there are sessions. Mabilis ‘yan,” Carpio told reporters after the forum.</p><p>For UP College of Law Dean Gwen Grecia De Vera, there are parts of the SC&#x27;s handling of the impeachment that have been “problematic.”</p><p>De Vera added, they appear to depart from records of the Constitutional Commission where the members mentioned a liberal approach to impeachment.</p><p>Carpio, De Vera, Azcuna, and former Far Eastern University Institute of Law dean Mel Sta. Maria all spoke at the forum on the future of impeachment.</p><p>The Supreme Court last month upheld its decision declaring the articles of impeachment against Duterte as unconstitutional and that the Senate did not acquire the jurisdiction over the impeachment proceedings.</p><p>In an en banc decision promulgated on January 28, all those who participated in the earlier ruling unanimously denied with finality the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><br/><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/uNgyv15ALuU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>For UP College of Law Dean Gwen Grecia De Vera, there are parts of the SC's handling of the impeachment that were “problematic.”</p>

For UP College of Law Dean Gwen Grecia De Vera, there are parts of the SC's handling of the impeachment that were “problematic.”

Ex-justices, law professors flag SC’s handling of impeachment vs VP Duterte

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Ex-justices, law professors flag SC’s handling of impeachment vs VP Duterte

Agatha Gregorio,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 19, 2026 12:06 PM PHT

|

Updated Feb 19, 2026 04:39 PM PHT

Read More:

impeachment

House of Representatives

Duterte

OVP

Supreme Court

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