Jauhn Etienne Villaruel

Article (news)

Adrian Ayalin

ABS-CBN News

<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/1775610000346173874220986120240925-sara-duterte-presscon-JC0095.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte gestures during a press briefing at the Cybergate building in Mandaluyong City on September 25, 2024. Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News/File<br/></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA<strong> (UPDATED)</strong> — Vice President Sara Duterte prayed for the Supreme Court to issue a “final injunction” that would nullify and set aside the impeachment proceedings against her by the House Committee on Justice. </p><p>In the petition for certiorari and prohibition of the Vice President dated April 1, 2026, she also asked for the issuance of a temporary restraining order against the respondent House of Representatives represented by Speaker Faustino Dy III and committee chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro.</p><p>The filing of the petition was announced by Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon Tuesday night and was confirmed by Duterte’s defense team on Wednesday.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/8/sara-duterte-filed-petition-before-sc-to-halt-impeachment-ridon-0000">Sara Duterte filed petition before SC to halt impeachment – Ridon</a></div><p>In a statement, the vice president&#x27;s lawyers said the petition was “not about avoiding the process” but was taken to “seek clarity” on constitutional questions. </p><p>“This is about ensuring that the process itself complies with the Constitution. The House has the power to initiate impeachment, but that power is not without limits,” Duterte’s defense team spokesman Michael Poa said in a statement.</p><p>But in her petition, Duterte also asked for the initial issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction against the “trial, mini-trial, or so-called preliminary investigation” of the House before issuance of a “final injunction&quot; — an order that would halt proceedings.</p><p>“As meticulously and unmistakably demonstrated in this petition, the impeachment proceedings against the petitioner are unconstitutional and continuing with them will result in a miscarriage of justice and a mockery of processes that our Constitution and laws have always aimed to protect,” Duterte said in the petition. </p><p>She argued that there were “fatal defects” in the referral process of the impeachment complaints, stressing that referral of the complaint to the proper committee is not done by the House Speaker alone. </p><p>Duterte also raised the issue of a possible violation of the one-year bar rule on impeachment complaints with the withdrawal of one of the four complaints and the setting aside of another. </p><p>But the vice president highlighted in her petition that the House’s Committee on Justice’s proceedings were unconstitutional, noting that a “mini-trial” was ongoing.</p><p>“By arrogating unto itself functions that are reserved for trial, that under the Constitution only the Senate acting as an impeachment court can do, the respondent Committee acted in excess of its jurisdiction and with grave abuse of discretion,” the Vice President said. </p><p>Duterte also noted the issuances of <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/7/house-panel-subpoenas-records-of-mary-grace-piattos-sara-duterte-taxes-1053">subpoenas </a>by the House for documents from the National Bureau of Investigation, the Office of the Ombudsman, and the Commission on Audit, among others. </p><p>“Under the given circumstances, it is evident that the proceedings before the respondent Committee on Justice are, in truth and substance, a trial in disguise,” the Vice President said. </p><p>Duterte asserted that there was no due process, noting that the issuance of a notice to her to appear before the Committee on Justice does not, by itself, satisfy the constitutional demands of due process.</p><p>“The essence of due process is not merely the giving of the opportunity to be heard but also the opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner,” the Vice President said.</p><p>She added that the affidavit of <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/6/madriaga-subpoenaed-to-testify-in-house-impeachment-proceedings-vs-duterte-1824">Ramil Madriaga</a>, her alleged bagman, had been treated as “gospel truth”. </p><p>She criticized the committee for its supposed “double standards” on the impeachment complaints against her and <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/10/house-throws-out-marcos-impeachment-bid-1657">President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. </a></p><p>Lastly, Duterte claimed that there was no impeachable offense on her part as the alleged violations “fall short of the gravity” required to prove she committed betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, bribery and culpable violation of the Constitution. </p><p>“Impeachment proceedings demand concrete and credible proof from the very outset, not conjectures and certainly, not mere innuendos paraded under a pretext of a demand for accountability,” the Vice President said. </p><div><br/></div><div><strong>SC SEEKS HOUSE COMMENT</strong></div><p>The Supreme Court during its Wednesday en banc session ordered the House of Representatives to comment within 10 days on the consolidated petitions of the Vice President and Duterte-allied lawyers. </p><p>“The SC consolidated these cases and, without necessarily giving due course to the petitions, directed respondents to comment within a non-extendible period of 10 days from receipt of notice,” the SC said in a statement.</p><p>Duterte, who in February<a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/3/duterte-beaming-with-pride-but-warns-sara-of-misery-agony-of-presidency-kitty-says-1702"> announced a 2028 presidential bid</a>, was impeached last year, only for the Supreme Court to toss the case out over procedural issues.</p><p>Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment by the House of Representatives triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict would ban Duterte from elected office for life.</p><p>The new complaints, ruled <a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/18/house-justice-panel-sara-duterte-impeachment-hearing-1040">&quot;sufficient in substance&quot;</a> by a vote of 54-1 last month, accuse her of graft and corruption while in office and of making a death threat against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos.</p><p>The hearing began on March 25 and will resume on April 14.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>HOUSE LAWMAKERS SLAM VP DUTERTE&#x27;S PETITION</strong></div><p>Some members of the House criticized Duterte&#x27;s move, with Akbayan party-list Representative Perci Cendaña saying this shows that the vice-president has no plans of facing the matter.</p><p>&quot;This petition reeks of desperation. At alam natin kapag desperado, talagang gagawin ang lahat para ma-delay, ma-derail ‘yung process. And we hope that the Supreme Court will see that we are fully compliant with not just the constitution, but even with their own ruling,&quot; said Cendaña.</p><p>For ML party-list Representative Leila de Lima, some have begun to think of the Supreme Court (SC) as &quot;Sara&#x27;s Court.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Akala siguro nila yung SC ay &#x27;Sara&#x27;s Court&#x27; na pwede nila laging takbuhan para pagtakpan ang kaduwagan at pagtakas sa pananagutan,&quot; De Lima wrote in a post online. </p><p>ACT Teachers party-list Representative Antonio Tinio, meanwhile, said it is possible no official may ever be impeached again if the rules of the House are repeatedly questioned. </p><div><strong>— With reports from Harlene Delgado and Agatha Gregorio, ABS-CBN News and Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><em></em><strong></strong></div><div><br/></div><div><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/RVIKHSz_7fw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><em></em><br/></div>

<p>The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed that they have filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to halt the impeachment hearings conducted by the House Committee on Justice.</p>

The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte confirmed that they have filed a petition before the Supreme Court seeking to halt the impeachment hearings conducted by the House Committee on Justice.

Sara Duterte defense team says SC petition vs impeachment aims ‘to seek clarity’, ‘not avoid process’

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Sara Duterte defense team says SC petition vs impeachment aims ‘to seek clarity’, ‘not avoid process’

Adrian Ayalin,

ABS-CBN News

Published April 08, 2026 09:02 AM PHT

|

Updated April 08, 2026 05:41 PM PHT

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Sara Duterte

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