Whatever becomes of SC petition, defense is ready 鈥� VP Duterte counsel
MANILA, Philippines — The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte is ready, regardless of whatever happens to the Supreme Court (SC) petition they filed to block the impeachment complaint against her, one of her legal counsel said.
The comment came from lawyer Sheila Sison at a panel discussion with the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law at its Bonifacio Global City campus in Taguig City on Wednesday.
“Apart from the preliminaries, the defense team is ready. Whatever resolution or action that the Supreme Court would have on the petition that we filed yesterday, the defense team is ready,” Sison said.
In the SC petition, the Duterte camp sought to nullify the fourth complaint filed by House members and cited Article XI of the Constitution which states: “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.”
READ: VP Sara Duterte files petition at SC to stop impeachment moves against her
Sison cited the impeachment trial of then-President Joseph Estrada in 2001, saying “there were a lot of things that happened outside the impeachment court.
Article continues after this advertisementREAD: Makabayan solons slam Sara Duterte’s bid to stop impeachment
Article continues after this advertisement“I suppose that is because the impeachment process really is a unique intersection of law and politics. This is something that we also anticipate could happen and would happen this time,” Sison said.
“It goes without saying that we are prepared just by being the lawyers of the Vice President that we would be under heavy scrutiny by the public,” she added.
