MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives yesterday transmitted to the Senate the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, amid an alleged shooting inside the building.
House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil delivered the articles at about 7:20 p.m.
Senate Secretary Mark Mendoza received the articles, Garafil confirmed.
Multiple shots were fired by officers of the Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA), accompanied by armed Philippine Marines.
Minutes after the shooting, at about 8 p.m., OSAA members allowed House contingents to deliver the boxes containing the Articles of Impeachment.
Sen. Imee Marcos earlier dared the House yesterday to transmit Duterte’s Articles of Impeachment to the Senate immediately, questioning the time the chamber was taking to reproduce “voluminous documents.”
“The excuse that the House is still reproducing ‘voluminous documents’ is flimsy, unacceptable and difficult to take seriously. The House has dozens, if not hundreds, of personnel at its disposal, backed by full administrative, legal, records, printing and information-technology support,” Marcos said in a statement.
Garafil said the chamber needed to ensure the copies of articles forwarded are accurate.
Marcos, however, dismissed this as “pretend(ing) that paperwork has suddenly become an insurmountable obstacle.”
For his part, House public accounts committee chairman Rep. Terry Ridon made assurances yesterday that it will transmit at the soonest possible time to the Senate the four Articles of Impeachment.
Ridon said they respect the position taken by Marcos, but noted that under the Constitution, no specified time was made in terms of sending the articles to the Senate for purposes of a full-blown trial.
Besides, he explained further, no less than the Supreme Court made additional and more stringent impeachment guidelines when it nullified in July 2025 the first impeachment against Duterte.
“This is why we are being more cautious in making sure that all the SC guidelines have been religiously complied with, along with the due process requirements,” he said.
Possible dismissal
The public should keep an eye on the possibility that Duterte’s impeachment trial might not prosper through her motion to dismiss or a vote by the new members of the Senate majority that could favor the idea, election lawyer Romulo Macalintal said.
In an opinion sent to The STAR yesterday, Macalintal wrote, “The real issue we must monitor is not whether the trial begins, but how it might be resolved.”
“There is a strong possibility that when the Vice President is summoned to answer the charges, her legal team will include or incorporate in her answer a motion to dismiss the case or a motion to quash the Articles of Impeachment,” he explained.
He said, “The Vice President may reiterate arguments she raised in the House of Representatives regarding alleged violation of her right to due process; that the case is politically motivated or lack of factual basis of the complaint.”
Such a motion to dismiss “would only require a simple majority vote – or at least 13 senators,” similar to the tally that changed the Senate majority bloc.
House Deputy Speaker Jay Khonghun scoffed at Senator Marcos yesterday for repeatedly insinuating that congressmen were paid to impeach Duterte. – Delon Porcalla, Daphne Galvez, Ghio Ong