SC junks petition vs House impeachment of Sara

MANILA, Philippines —  With the trial underway, the Supreme Court (SC) has put to rest the issue on whether or not the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte held by the House of Representatives were invalid.

The SC declared that the issues raised “had become moot” as the House had already approved and transmitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate.

The high tribunal dismissed the consolidated petitions questioning the proceedings before the House and its committee on justice on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

“The impeachment process had already moved to the Senate, which had convened as an impeachment court and had begun proceedings,” the SC declared in a press briefer yesterday.

It explained further: “The House’s transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment marked the end of the House’s role in the impeachment process and the initiation of the impeachment case. As a result, the actions the petitioner sought to stop had already been completed.”

House prosecutor Bicol SARO Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the dismissal of the petitions ended the claims the House conducted a supposed “mini-trial” and “fishing expedition.”

He said the impeachment case should now proceed where the Constitution mandates it to be heard.

House prosecutor Rep. Joel Chua said both the prosecution and defense should now focus on litigating the substance of the articles before the constitutionally designated impeachment tribunal.

The petitions dismissed were filed by Duterte and a group led by lawyer Israelito Torreon that asked for a temporary restraining order against the impeachment hearings held by the House justice panel in March and April this year.

Both petitions denounced the justice committee’s efforts to perform a mini-trial and fishing expedition by gathering evidence and witnesses against Duterte, including her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth starting from her time as Davao City vice mayor, tax and financial records also of her husband lawyer Manases Carpio, past investigations into her alleged threats against President Marcos and others and her alleged bagman Ramil Madriaga.

Duterte also alleged the impeachment complaints violated the one-year prohibition in filing multiple impeachment complaints.

The two petitions accused the House justice panel of committing grave abuse of discretion in launching the impeachment proceedings.

Judicial notice

The defense team yesterday said it accepts the ruling of presiding officer Francis Escudero after he allowed the motion of judicial notice of the House prosecution team and the marking of the affidavit of former police officer Arturo Lascañas.

Defense spokesman Michael Poa said at a press conference that the defense team will comply with the ruling of the impeachment court.

National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag, who testified before the impeachment court, said that document is relevant to the continuing investigation of the NBI’s special task force on Duterte’s grave threats case, noting that it may establish a pattern of violence.

However, the defense team refused to stipulate on 10 items presented by the prosecution panel as part of the testimony of an official of the Commission on Audit (COA).

Defense counsel Kristine Ferrer registered the opposition prior to the start of the testimony of COA auditor Xylene del Ocampo.

“We do not stipulate on these because these documents they marked are incomplete,” Ferrer said.

Private prosecutor Lorna Kapunan said the defense team refused to stipulate at least 2,668 documents, including 530 documents covering first quarter of 2022; 530 documents covering the second quarter of 2022; 774 documents covering the third quarter of 2022 and 845 documents covering the fourth quarter of 2022.

Ferrer also opposed the proposal that the examination of the acknowledgement receipts be done outside the court.

No conflict of interest

Poa welcomed Escudero’s ruling that there was “no conflict of interest” after a prosecution witness said that he met him in 2023 when he was still part of the Department of Education.

“I actually don’t remember that, to be honest, but I do remember that meeting,” Poa said at a press conference.

Sen. Raffy Tulfo questioned whether Poa had a conflict of interest in defending Duterte over the use of confidential funds.

Prosecution witness Commission on Audit auditor Roderick Wamil testified that the core staff of the Office of the Vice President lobbied in 2023 to downgrade COA audit findings on the OVP’s use of confidential funds.

Tulfo asked Wamil if he was not intimidated during the meeting with Poa.

Escudero ruled that there was no conflict of interest as Poa was not the respondent in the impeachment trial.

VP visits jailed allies

Duterte visited on Tuesday her political allies detained at the Quezon City Jail Male Dormitory.

The Vice President first visited Sen. Rodante Marcoleta followed by Sen. Jinggoy Estrada and former congressman Michael Defensor,

Bureau of Jail Management and Penology spokesman Superintendent Jayrex Joseph Bustinera told reporters. –  Bella Cariaso, Daphne Galvez, Emmanuel Tupas, Marc Jayson Cayabyab