Senate Sergeant-At-Arms serves summons for Sara Duterte

The Senate Sergeant-At-Arms served on Wednesday morning the writ of summons for Vice President Sara Duterte at her office in Mandaluyong City.

The Office of the Vice President (OVP) confirmed receipt of the summons issued by the Senate impeachment court at 11:05 a.m.

Senate Sergeant-At-Arms Roberto Ancan would be the one to serve the summons at the OVP headquarters in Mandaluyong, based on a Super Radyo dzBB report of Nimfa Ravelo. 

Now that the summons has been received, Duterte has a non-extendible period of 10 days to answer to the articles of impeachment against her.

According to a Super Radyo dzBB report by Mark Makalalad, Ancan and other Senate staff arrived at the OVP office at 10:43 a.m. Wednesday.

The report said they were carrying a box and were looking for an OVP representative to receive the summons.

Members of the media were asked to keep their distance from the scene.

Sought for comment, an OVP media relations officer reiterated the defense team's position that accusations against the Vice President in the impeachment trial are baseless, and that the fourth impeachment complaint that the House of Representatives eventually transmitted to the Senate is marred by constitutional infirmities. 

The Vice President is currently in Malaysia for a personal trip with her family. 

The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, on Tuesday night voted to return to the House of Representatives the articles of impeachment against Duterte without dismissing or terminating them.

The motion was approved with a vote of 18 affirmative, five negative, and no abstentions.

The House of Representatives impeached Duterte on February 5, with over 200 lawmakers endorsing the complaint. 

The seven Articles of Impeachment against Duterte include:

• Conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez;
• Malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;
• Bribery and corruption in the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte's tenure as Education Secretary, involving former DepEd officials;
• Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), with her wealth reportedly increasing fourfold from 2007 to 2017;
• Involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City;
• Destabilization and public disorder efforts, including boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos Jr.'s resignation, obstructing congressional investigations, and issuing threats against top officials; and
• The totality of her conduct as Vice President.

— VDV, GMA Integrated News