The Supreme Court has closed the door on the House of Representatives’ bid to revive the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, issuing a unanimous resolution that bars the fourth complaint transmitted to the Senate earlier this year.
In a ruling released Thursday, the high court said the complaint that reached the Senate on February 5, 2025 ran afoul of the Constitution’s one-year ban on multiple impeachment initiations against the same official. Citing Article XI, Section 3 (5), the justices held that the filing was constitutionally prohibited and therefore could not move forward.
The decision also reaffirmed the court’s earlier stance that the Senate never acquired jurisdiction over the impeachment process, rejecting the House’s appeal to overturn the July 25, 2025 ruling that voided the Articles of Impeachment.
Reacting to the outcome, Senate President Vicente Sotto III described the ruling as a setback for constitutional interpretation. “It is a sad day for Constitutional Law students and professors. The Constitution had just been amended unconstitutionally through Supreme Court overreach,” Sotto said in a statement.
He argued that the ruling amounted to judicial lawmaking and accused the court of intruding into legislative authority. “It will take decades of retirements to correct this misinterpretation. When the law is clear, there is nothing to interpret, as any first year law student knows,” he added. Sotto further claimed the decision reflected “a clear judicial legislation,” pointing to what he said was the court’s admission that it introduced new rules for Congress in handling impeachment. “A clear encroachment on the power of the Legislative branch, as provided for by the Constitution,” he said, before concluding, “Impeachment is now an impossible dream!”
Beyond dismissing the appeal, the Supreme Court addressed how impeachment timelines should be counted, clarifying that “session days” refer to calendar days when the House of Representatives is in session, and not merely to the number of sittings held.
