Mindanao lawyers file petition to block Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Photo:Republika News / Izel Abanilla 

MANILA, Philippines – Lawyers and  supporters on Tuesday, February 18, filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to block the impending impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. 

Led by former Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chief Martin Delgra and Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) legal counsel Israelito Torreon, along with 27 other petitioners, the Mindanao lawyers filed a Petition for Certiorari and Prohibition before the High Court seeking to block trial for an impeachment case they believe should not be entertained by the Senate for being “constitutionally deficient” and “jurisdictionally void.”  

Certiorari is a writ or order by which a higher court reviews the decision of a lower court. 

The lawyers are asking the SC to issue a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), which if issued, will temporarily stop the impeachment proceedings from commencing. 

Defective impeachment 

The lawyers claim that the impeachment case filed against the Vice President is defective based on three principal grounds. 

The House of Representatives, according to Torreon, violated constitutional provisions on impeachment proceedings by not acting right away on first three impeachment complaints.

Torreon cited Article 11 Sec. 3, paragraph 2 of the 1987 Constitution mandating the House of Representatives to include any impeachment complaint in the Order of Business within 10 session days to be referred to the proper committee after three session days. 

Citing the same provisions on House rules on impeachment proceedings, rule II requires all complaints to be filed to the Office of the Secretary General for referral to the Speaker, similarly for inclusion in the Order of Business within 10 session days and to the committee on justice within three session days. 

The impeachment complaints were filed on December 2, 4 and 19 by different individuals

However, the articles of impeachment were endorsed to the Senate on February 5, on the last day of Congress, over two months after the filing of the complaints.

“What did they do? They never acted on the three complaints. They waited until February 5,” Torreon said Wednesday. 

“They fast-tracked the filing of the fourth impeachment complaint and in just three hours, more or less, 215 congressmen allegedly read and verified the fourth impeachment complaint,” Torreon said. 

The complaint likewise was never endorsed to the committee on justice. 

Not verified 

The Constitution also mandates that a verified impeachment complaint must secure one third votes of House members before it gets transmitted to the Senate for trial. 

“We must determine therefore if there was proper verification that was conducted,” Torreon said. 

He added that the complaint filed in the Senate did not even have proper verification which means it had been read fully and understood by all members of the House before voting for or against it. 

Torreon said many of the members did not even have any idea at all about the subject of the impeachment on the morning of February 5 and yet 215 signatures were secured at about 3 p.m. 

“They only had three hours to look at the complaint, verify all the attachment to the complaint, they would only have one minute and two seconds to finish it all,” Torreon said. 

Can you understand anything in one minute and two seconds?” Torreon said. 

Violation of due process 

Torreon said the Vice President was never informed that impeachment complaints will be filed against her, a right she was constitutionally denied, according to Torreon. 

“The Vice President was denied prior notice and hearing prior to the filing of these four complaints. She was never informed beforehand that these new complaints were going to be filed against her,” Torreon said. 

Torreon clarified that the Vice President did not have a hand on the filing of the petition. Rather, it was simply a move of supporters who believe there should be an effort to stop a “constitutionally void and defective and jurisdictionally deficient impeachment complaint.” 

“We would like to emphasize that this is our individual move, collective efforts on the part of us individual petitioners. VP Sara has nothing to do with this,” Torreon said. 

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