Paul Lim, counsel for Vice President Sara Duterte, told a Quezon City court on Tuesday that the three counts of grave threats filed against his client cannot legally proceed, insisting the Constitution shields officials who are subject to impeachment from facing criminal charges during their term in office.
“We believe that the case should be dismissed because the court has no jurisdiction,” Lim said, framing the immunity question as the central issue the judge must weigh.
His argument stops short of claiming permanent protection. Lim clarified that officials in impeachable posts remain answerable to the law, but only once their service concludes. “If there is a case to be filed against them, it should be after their service, after their term or tenure as impeachable officers,” he said.
The hearing at Regional Trial Court Branch 98 marked the first time both sides argued the motion to quash aloud before the bench. The defense had asked the court to hear oral arguments before issuing any ruling, a request the judge approved. That session had been slated for the prior week but was pushed back due to inclement weather.
Prosecutors took the opposite view. Department of Justice spokesperson Polo Martinez said the evidence gathered met the threshold of prima facie proof carrying reasonable certainty of conviction, which he said justified bringing the three counts forward. He also pushed back against any suggestion that Duterte’s ongoing impeachment case bars the criminal matter, describing the two processes as “different and distinct” and moving along separate tracks.
Lim declined to lay out the full substance of the defense’s legal reasoning to reporters, noting those points had already been submitted to the court.
With the prosecution formally opposing the motion to quash, the question of whether the case survives now rests with the presiding judge.
