The Supreme Court has directed Senate President Vicente Sotto III to respond within 10 days to a contempt complaint arising from his public remarks against the high tribunal’s decision to invalidate the first Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The non-extendible deadline was set in a resolution issued Monday, May 4, requiring Sotto to file his comment on the matter.
The contempt proceedings trace back to a February 2026 complaint filed by lawyers Ferdinand Topacio and Manuelito Luna, along with other members of the legal community. The group alleged that Sotto had crossed a line with statements they said undermined public trust in the Court and attacked its credibility.
Separately, Sotto addressed the logistics of how the Senate would handle a Duterte impeachment trial if the articles reach the chamber. Speaking on radio station dzBB, he said he intends to require a pre-trial phase before any formal proceedings begin — a step he said is already embedded in Senate rules through suppletory application of the Rules of Court.
“What I’ll do, based on experience, is pre-trial first before the trial proper. That’s in our rules, which is suppletory (application of) rules of court,” he said.
Sotto pointed to the 2012 impeachment trial of former Chief Justice Renato Corona as the basis for this approach, saying an upfront pre-trial conference would compel both the prosecution and defense to disclose their evidence early, preventing procedural surprises later in the proceedings.
He also clarified the meaning of “forthwith” in the context of the Supreme Court’s guidance on the Senate’s obligation to act on transmitted impeachment articles. While the word implies immediacy, Sotto said it applies to convening the impeachment court — not to the start of the trial itself.
“You cannot ‘forthwith’ the day it’s transmitted… I plan to convene the impeachment court. I-convene only. Pero the trial proper will take some time because there are preparations,” he said.
Before a trial proper can begin, Sotto said the Senate must first furnish Duterte’s camp with a copy of the articles, allow time for a response, receive the prosecution’s reply, and complete the pre-trial conference.
“What the SC is saying, and what the SC is saying is correct, the impeachment itself is – yes, forthwith – but within reasonable time. What do they mean? They mean within reasonable time – the trial proper,” Sotto explained.
Senator Erwin Tulfo, meanwhile, pushed back on reports of a possible leadership challenge against Sotto. He said the majority bloc stands solidly behind the Senate president and that the chamber has no room for internal power struggles given the country’s pressing economic difficulties. Tulfo was responding to a warning from former Senate president Aquilino Pimentel III, who had floated the possibility of a coup if a supermajority moved to block the trial through what he characterized as a legally defective maneuver.
“I don’t think so. I think they cannot muster enough votes for that,” Tulfo said.
