ASEANEWS HEADLINE-VP Du30 IMPEACHMENT | MANILA: Senate archives VP Sara impeachment
Supporters and critics of Vice President Sara Duterte gather outside the Senate in Pasay yesterday ahead of deliberations on whether or not to proceed with the impeachment trial./ Ryan Baldemor
WATCH VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_TWR0717hc
FULL: Senate ‘archives’ VP Sara’s impeachment case | ABS-CBN News
MANILA — The Senate voted on Wednesday to archive the impeachment trial filed against Vice President Sara Duterte. The voting ended with 19 for the archiving, 4 in the opposition, and 1 abstention. Voted YES: Cayetano, A., Cayetano, P., Dela Rosa, Ejercito, Escudero, Estrada, Gatchalian, Go, Lapid, Legarda, Marcoleta, Marcos, Padilla, Tulfo, E., Tulfo, R., Villanueva, Villar, C., Villar, M., Zubiri Voted NO: Aquino, Hontiveros, Pangilinan, Sotto
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Chiz: Case can still be revived
MANILA, Philippines — Nineteen senators last night voted to archive the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte as they wait for the Supreme Court (SC) to resolve the appeals on its landmark but controversial decision finding the impeachment complaint unconstitutional.
Four senators – Minority Leader Tito Sotto, Risa Hontiveros, Kiko Pangilinan and Bam Aquino – voted against the motion, while Sen. Panfilo Lacson abstained.
Senators voted to “transfer the Articles of Impeachment to the archives, adhering to the immediately executory decision rendered by the SC en banc, which held that the Articles of Impeachment are null and void ab initio, and that the Senate did not acquire jurisdiction over the same.”
Senate President Francis Escudero said while they voted to archive the case, the senators may still vote to revive the case and bring it out of the archives if the high court reverses its decision and orders the Senate to continue to trial.
PIVOTAL SESSION Though not formally convened for the day as an impeachment court, the Senate takes up the Supreme Court ruling on the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte. —Niño Jesus Orbeta
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The archiving was seen as a compromise instead of the outright dismissal of the case, as proposed by Sen. Rodante Marcoleta, who said it was unlikely for the SC to reverse its own unanimous decision.
Senators deliberated for about six hours before reaching a final vote to archive the case.
Sen. Pia Cayetano said being voided ab initio meant that the impeachment complaint was “inexistent from the very beginning and inoperative.”
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa said he is for archiving the case, as he recalled his role to move for the impeachment dismissal as early as June 10, the date of the Senate impeachment court’s first and only convening.
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Explaining his vote to abstain, Lacson said that while he respected the Supreme Court’s decision, he also agreed that the ruling has not yet attained finality.
“Without the words ‘immediately executory’ and the phrase on 25 July 2025 which held, among others, that the Articles of Impeachment are null and void ab initio and that the Senate did not acquire jurisdiction over the same, I would have voted in favor of the amended motion because I have always maintained that we must respect and not disobey the Supreme Court,” Lacson said.
“But since there is still a pending motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives through the Solicitor General, I believe that the July 25 ruling is by no means final, until it rules on the motion for reconsideration with finality. That being said, I would rather wait, not preempt, the final ruling of the high court. It is for these reasons that I abstain,” he added.
Sotto’s motion denied
OBJECTION Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III was one of those who blocked efforts to dismiss the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, saying the Senate should allow the appeals process to run its course. PHOTO BY RENE H. DILAN
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Despite Sotto’s warning to his colleagues that archiving the impeachment case would amount to killing it altogether, the chamber still voted against his motion to table Marcoleta’s motion to archive the Articles of Impeachment.
Voting 19-5, the Senate struck down Sotto’s motion to shelve the archiving of the impeachment articles – effectively rejecting his appeal to suspend action on Marcoleta’s motion while the high tribunal’s decision remains under appeal.
“The SC decision is now pending appeal. It is prudent to wait for the results than prematurely archiving if not dismissing. Because I know for a fact that once it is archived, it is dead,” Sotto said before his motion was defeated.
The motion to archive was originally introduced by Marcoleta as a motion to dismiss, triggering a lengthy debate among senators. The debate ended when Senate Majority Leader Joel Villan
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ueva moved to revise the motion to dismiss into a motion to archive the Articles of Impeachment.
Escudero explained that the new motion to archive does not dismiss the impeachment complaint, saying as part of “proper administrative procedure,” matters like an impeachment complaint that are archived by the chamber may be scooped out of the archive through a majority vote.
In explaining his vote to stop the motion to archive, Sotto cautioned the chamber on the instance the SC reverses itself.
“So what happens if the SC reverses itself? Clear and blatant errors are present in the ruling of the SC. They did not interpret the Constitution; they amended the Constitution. Lastly, the SC now has a chance to rectify errors in its decision. So I was hoping to table the motion. So… let us afford them this opportunity for the benefit of future impeachment processes and to uphold the clear mandate of the 1987 Constitution. All we needed to do is wait a little,” he said.
“And so I will register a yes (to table Marcoleta’s motion vote). I know it will be a vote in the minority, but I’ve always voted in the minority in many issues in the Senate since 1992 up to the present. Always prayed I was wrong, unfortunately I was always right. May God have mercy on your decision. I vote yes,” he added.
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Why the rush?
The Senate meets during its sixth regular session under the 20th Congress, while militants march outside calling for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte on Aug. 6, 2025. PHOTOS BY RENE H. DILAN
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Earlier during the plenary debate, Hontiveros seconded Sotto’s motion for the Senate to “table” the dismissal bid, which effectively prevents the Senate from throwing out the case pending the finality of the SC decision due to a motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives.
“When the Supreme Court negates the actions of a co-equal branch of government, it does not assert its superiority. Instead, it upholds the supremacy and the dominance of the fundamental law of the land, the Constitution,” Marcoleta said.
Sotto countered Marcoleta’s motion to dismiss, saying the SC decision, while immediately executory, is not yet final because of the appeals, and that there was precedence that the high tribunal even reversed a unanimous decision.
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Sotto also cited a factual error in the 97-page landmark decision, where the ponente, Associate Justice Marvic Leonen, said the first three impeachment complaints when archived were effectively dismissed after a “fourth” impeachment complaint was endorsed by more than one-third of House members in time for the Feb. 5 adjournment of session.
According to Sotto, the SC mistook the Feb. 5 session as an end to the 19th Congress, pointing out that this was merely a sine die adjournment, when Congress took a “housekeeping” break.
“Feb. 5 did not terminate the 19th Congress as stated in the decision. The sine die adjournment of the 19th Congress was on June 14, 2025, wherein the last session day was last June 11,” Sotto said.
“There is a world of difference between adjournment versus a sine die adjournment. This is a transcendental case, a massive constitutional issue. There were no oral arguments or at the very least a consultation with someone from Congress regarding the procedure,” he added.
Meanwhile, Malacañang reiterated that President Marcos won’t meddle in the deliberations on the impeachment against the Vice President.
“Whatever happens in the Senate with regard to this issue, it is now in their (senators) hands and the President will not interfere with any of the works of the Senate,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said at a press briefing yesterday.
Although he was dismayed, Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, one of the House prosecutors in the impeachment trial, maintained his optimism after the results of the Senate voting yesterday.
“We shall not be deterred in our quest for accountability. The Senate action today is not a checkmate. But the Senate denied due process to the Filipino people,” Chua said.
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ABS-CBN statement
ABS-CBN News clarified that its articles on the SC ruling cited did not state that the House of Representatives transmitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate without a plenary vote.
It stated that in the articles, the media outlet said that 215 of 306 House members, during a House plenary session on Feb. 5, supported the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte.
“On Feb. 5, ABS-CBN News covered and also aired live the House plenary vote on the impeachment complaint,” the statement read.
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Kiko Dee escorted out of Senate
The group of Tindig Pilipinas and Akbayan were escorted out of the Senate plenary hall last night as they thumbed down the senators’ vote to archive the impeachment complaint of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Kiko Aquino Dee, the grandson of slain senator Ninoy Aquino and former president Corazon Aquino, and also Tindig Pilipinas co-convenor, was among the group escorted out.
He scowled and stuck out a thumbs down as he stood up from the VIP gallery.
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Another prominent member escorted out was Akbayan party-list president Rafaela David, who also flashed a thumbs down from the audience side of the gallery.
They staged their silent protest as Sen. Imee Marcos delivered her explanation on voting yes to archive the case.
“Who are these people almost creating trouble there? Can you please trace their identities and send them out of this building,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, who was presiding at the time.
Judy Ann Miranda of the “Impeach Now Coalition” said they had walked out of the Senate, not escorted outside, adding their protest was peaceful and not disruptive.
“The Senate President kept saying that rule of law should be respected. We do not believe this happened tonight. There was no respect for the rule of law. What happened was, Sara Duterte is above the law!” Miranda said. — Neil Jayson Servallos, Daphne Galvez, Alexis Romero, Jose Rodel Clapano
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