Sara Duterte: Dad Rodrigo 'really proud' after articles of impeachment archived

Vice President Sara Duterte said her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, has expressed pride upon knowing that the Senate voted to transfer to the archives the articles of impeachment against her. 

“Ayun, ang sinabi, he’s really proud. Hindi kasi kami nagkausap nung dismissal ng impeachment. Visit ‘ata ni Kitty ‘yun and siya ‘yung nagbigay ng news kay [former] president Duterte,” the Vice President said in an interview in The Hague, Netherlands on Wednesday night. 

(He said he’s really proud. We weren’t able to talk when the articles of impeachment were archived. I think it was Kitty’s turn to visit then and she was the one who told the news to former president Duterte.) 

On August 6, the Senate voted 19-4-1 to archive the articles of impeachment against Sara Duterte. 

This decision came after the Supreme Court (SC) declared the articles of impeachment unconstitutional, stressing that it is barred by the one-year rule under the 1987 Constitution and that it violates her right to due process.

The SC, however, said it was not absolving the Vice President from any of the charges against her and that any subsequent impeachment complaint may be filed starting February 6, 2026.

The House of Representatives currently has a pending motion for reconsideration, seeking to reverse the SC decision. The lower chamber argued that it should be allowed to perform its exclusive duty to prosecute an impeachable official, and the Senate's to try the case.

Vice President Duterte has also asked the SC to dismiss the House of Representatives’ appeal on its ruling that declared the impeachment complaint against her unconstitutional.

She said the House's arguments were “mere diversions obsessed with trivia and blind to the decision's genuine core reasoning.”

The House impeached Duterte on February 5, with over 200 lawmakers endorsing the complaint. The Vice President was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News