Petition to stop impeachment trial vs VP Duterte filed at Supreme Court
(From left to right) Atty. Luna Acosta, Atty. Israelito Torreon, and Atty. Martin Delgra are among the 29 petitioners who filed a petition to the Supreme Court on Tuesday, February 18, to stop the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte. (Photo by Dianne Sampang
/ 黑料社)
MANILA, Philippines — A group of Mindanao lawyers filed on Tuesday a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The petition for certiorari and prohibition seeks to issue a temporary restraining order and declare the impeachment complaint null and void.
Among the 29 petitioners are Atty. Israelito Torreon, Atty. Martin Delgra, Atty. James Reserva, and Atty. Hillary Olga.
Torreon is also the legal counsel of alleged qualified trafficker and detained senatorial candidate Apollo Quiboloy.
At the sidelines of the filing of the petition, Torreon said that the impeachment complaint is “constitutionally deficient, and is a violation of pertinent constitutional provisions and is likewise jurisdictionally void and the same should be dismissed and not entertained by the Senate of the Republic of the Philippines.”
Article continues after this advertisementTorreon added that the complaint is “defective,” emphasizing that it “did not consider the three priorly filed impeachment complaints”; Duterte was not given due process; it did not follow the constitutionally-prescribed verification process.
Article continues after this advertisementTorreon then cited Article 11 Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, noting that the complaint did not meet the verification requirement and was railroaded by the lawmakers in the lower chamber.
“Upon the receipt of the impeachment complaint, the same should be included in the order of business in 10 session days and thereafter the speaker should refer it to the committee on justice for three days and these are mandatory provisions which were not followed by the House of Representatives,” Torreon said.
READ: SC may take up petition for ‘immediate’ VP Duterte impeachment trial
Meanwhile, SC spokesperson Camille Ting on Monday said that a petition urging the high tribunal to compel the Senate to “immediately” begin Duterte’s impeachment trial might be included in its en banc session on Tuesday.
It was filed last February 14 by lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr., a former special counsel of the Presidential Commission on Good Government.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero previously said that Duterte’s impeachment trial would begin after the fourth State of the Nation Address of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in July.
Escudero also said he had no plan to request a special session to tackle the impeachment.
The Senate adjourned its session on February 8 and will resume it on June 13. The session will be adjourned again from June 14 to July 27.
READ: House impeaches Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate
The House of Representatives impeached the vice president on February 5, with 215 lawmakers voting in favor of the impeachment.
The lawmakers backing the complaint officially reached 240 after the session.
The complaint was then sent to the Senate for trial on the same day.
