Prosecution opposes scenario of impeach court junking Sara Duterte case without trial

MANILA, Philippines — The prosecution panel in the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte asserted on Monday, June 29, that the Senate would go against the Constitution if it were to immediately dismiss the articles of impeachment without proceeding to a full trial. 

The statement comes as Vice President Sara Duterte requests the impeachment court to junk the case against her over its alleged failure to meet constitutional standards. 

“It would go against the letter and the spirit of the Constitution if the case is dismissed, even before the trial itself, even before the presentation of evidence, and evaluation of evidence,” prosecutor Leila de Lima of party-list group Mamamayang Liberal said. 

Play Video

“Our position has always been that the function and duty of the Senate is to conduct a trial, to hear the evidence, and to come up with a decision,” prosecutor Chel Diokno of party-list group Akbayan added. 

The prosecution panel argued that dismissing the case without allowing them to present the evidence against her is considered a “premature” action. 

Private prosecutor Reynaldo Robles also cited the previous impeachment trials of Joseph Estrada and Renato Corona, which he said were both unsuccessful in their attempts to have their impeachment cases dismissed outright. 

De Lima, however, has not ruled out the possibility of any senator introducing a motion to dismiss the impeachment case upon the reconvening of the impeachment court. 

“We will vehemently oppose that,” De Lima said. 

During the first impeachment saga against Duterte in 2025, Senator Robin Padilla, the vice president’s ally, filed a resolution seeking to dismiss the case against her even before the convening of the impeachment court. Padilla will be a senator-judge in the full trial proper in July. 

The 1987 Constitution says the Senate “shall have the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment.”

Duterte’s reply to the impeachment articles, as first reported by GMA News, also invoked freedom of expression among other arguments to defend her apparent threats to the life of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his family in 2024.

Play Video

“While we do not want to respond to the merits or defenses being raised by the Vice President… freedom of speech is not absolute, there are limits to freedom of speech, and we will leave it to the impeachment court to resolve the arguments made by the Vice President to respond,” Diokno said. – with reports from Patricia Fontilar/Rappler.com

Patricia Fontilar is a journalism student at the University of the Philippines Diliman and the managing editor of Tinig ng Plaridel, the official student publication of the UP College of Media and Communication. She is currently a Rappler intern.