People hold placards and shout slogans as they protest following the Senate’s decision on the impeachment trial of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, outside the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay, Metro Manila on June 11, 2025. (Photo by Jam STA ROSA / AFP)
MANILA, Philippines — House of Representatives prosecutors said Wednesday that Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial could not be stopped despite the Senate sending the case back to them hours after convening as a court.
Prosecutors told an afternoon press briefing their case had complied strictly with the constitution, adding they would seek clarification over what they called “confusing” Senate orders.
READ: LIVE UPDATES: Impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte
Duterte was impeached in early February on charges of graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against former ally and running mate President Ferdinand Marcos.
A guilty verdict would see her removed from office and permanently barred from politics.
“No one can stop this anymore, because jurisdiction has been acquired already by the impeachment court,” said Congresswoman Gerville Luistro, pointing to the Senate’s issuing of a summons for Duterte late Wednesday night.
“There will be no… withdrawal (of the impeachment case) by the House. That is not allowed by the constitution.”
Tuesday night’s 18-5 Senate vote ordered the House to certify it had not violated the constitution by hearing three impeachment complaints before the one that ultimately went to a vote.
The constitution bars subjecting anyone to multiple impeachment proceedings within the same year.
READ: House formally defers accepting returned impeachment articles
On Wednesday night, the House passed a resolution certifying that the impeachment proceedings against Duterte fully complied with the constitution, including the filings of the first three complaints.
A second order to guarantee the case would move forward after new House members take their seats on June 30 was “impossible” to fulfil as they could not speak for a future Congress, prosecutors said.
Outside the Senate, several hundred protesters gathered Wednesday, shouting slogans and pounding on the gates as they called for the body to follow through with the impeachment trial.
‘Political survival’
The Senate’s vote to remand was as much a matter of “political survival” as anything, lawyer and former senator Leila de Lima told AFP Wednesday.
De Lima, who warned more than a week ago the Senate could move to kill the impeachment, said the spectre of a still-powerful Duterte was likely on lawmakers’ minds.
“Loyalty, friendship, political survival. Maybe they are thinking the Dutertes are very much around even if the patriarch (ex-president Rodrigo Duterte) is in The Hague,” she said.
The elder Duterte has been imprisoned since March when he was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court to face charges tied to his deadly drug war.
His daughter has been widely mooted as a presidential candidate in 2028 should she survive the impeachment process.
Senators “were trying to protect their political ambitions”, agreed Congresswoman France Castro, who endorsed an early impeachment complaint against the vice president.
Asked at Wednesday’s press briefing if he believed the Senate was deliberately delaying the trial, Congressman Keith Flores said the answer was clear.
“I cannot speak for everyone but for me, yes.”