Duterte Lawyers Ask Supreme Court to Halt Impeachment

The constitutional challenge to Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment trial reached the Supreme Court on Monday, the same day the trial opened. Her lawyers asked for a status quo ante order to stop proceedings while the court resolves whether the Senate's presiding officer holds valid authority.

Duterte's legal team argues that the Senate's June 3 amendment to its impeachment rules was unconstitutional. Only 12 of 24 senators were present when the chamber voted to allow the election of a presiding officer in non-presidential impeachment cases. The petitioners say that falls short of a quorum and that the Senate failed to give the required one-day advance notice. They also contend the amendment was adopted while the Senate sat in its ordinary legislative capacity, not as an impeachment court, which had already adopted its own rules on May 18.

The trial opened Monday with Senator Francis Escudero presiding after 12 of 21 senators present elected him. Senator Alan Peter Cayetano raised a point of order challenging Escudero's authority. Escudero overruled it, saying the resolution had been duly approved and that any challenge should go to the Senate plenary or the Supreme Court.

On Tuesday, the trial entered its second day. The prosecution presented its first witness, National Bureau of Investigation Senior Agent John Mark Calilung. He authenticated a video of Duterte's November 23, 2024 online press briefing where she said she had contracted an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former speaker Martin Romualdez if she herself was killed. Calilung testified that he compared a screen-recorded copy with the original livestream and generated a hash value to preserve integrity.