Sara Duterte's team dismisses new impeachment complaints as baseless

The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday said it is ready to face newly filed impeachment complaints, asserting that the allegations against her lack both factual and legal basis.

In an official statement, lawyer Michael Poa, speaking for Duterte’s defense team, said the filing of new impeachment complaints “comes as no surprise,” stressing that impeachment is a constitutional process governed by evidence and due process.

Citing a recent ruling of the Supreme Court, Poa emphasized that impeachment “is not merely a political process initiated by mere allegations or by perceived public acclaim shaped by the propagandistic effect of timed press releases or irresponsible viral posts on social media.”

“We are prepared to confront these allegations squarely through the proper constitutional processes, confident that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis,” he said.

Earlier in the day, two impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte at the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.

The first complaint was lodged by members of the Makabayan Coalition and endorsed by the Makabayan bloc in the House. The second was filed by Tindig Pilipinas and endorsed by by ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and Akbayan Rep. Percy Cendaña.

Duterte earlier said her legal team has been preparing for a possible new impeachment complaint, even after the Supreme Court upheld its 2025 ruling declaring an earlier impeachment case against her unconstitutional.

“Hanggang ngayon, tuloy-tuloy pa naman ‘yung mga abogado and legal team. And nung nakaraang taon, bago mag-Christmas break, ay napag-usapan din namin ‘yung paghahanda sa impeachment,” Duterte said in an interview in The Hague on January 29.

(Until now, the lawyers and legal team are still working. And last year, before the Christmas break, we also discussed the preparations for the impeachment.) 

Last week, the Supreme Court announced that it had “denied with finality,” by a unanimous vote, the motion for reconsideration filed by the House seeking to reverse the ruling that struck down the impeachment articles against Duterte.

The High Court affirmed that the fourth impeachment complaint transmitted to the Senate on February 5, 2025, was already barred under Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution, which prohibits the initiation of more than one impeachment proceeding against the same official within a one-year period. —AOL, GMA Integrated News