More lawyers seek TRO vs. VP Sara impeachment

More lawyers have filed a petition before the Supreme Court (SC) challenging the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte at the House of Representatives.

In a 34-page petition, petitioners Hue Jyro Go, Micah De Guzman, and Jake Leoncini asked the SC to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or a writ of preliminary injunction to halt further consideration of the third and fourth impeachment complaints, including the issuance of subpoenas.

They also urged the court to annul and set aside the findings, acts, rulings, and directives of the House of Representatives related to the impeachment complaints, including determinations on sufficiency in form and substance and the issuance of subpoenas.

“Its successive issuance of subpoenas, reception of materials outside the complaints, and resort to third-party record-gathering reveal an unmistakable attempt to search for, assemble, and construct evidence not found in the complaints themselves,” the petition read.

“These acts constitute nothing less than a fishing expedition for evidence,” it added.

The petitioners argued that the issuance of subpoenas constitutes an improper expansion of the House’s power to initiate impeachment and violates the Constitution and the Impeachment Rules.

They also said that the request for statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALNs) spanning multiple years is “patently overbroad, absent any demonstrated link to specific omissions actually alleged in the complaints.”

Meanwhile, the petitioners maintained that “fair play” applies even in a political process, citing what they described as lawmakers’ public statements and actions that allegedly conveyed hostility.

“The totality of these circumstances demonstrates not the sobriety expected of impeachment under the Constitution, but a process increasingly marked by predisposition, ridicule, and active case-building—thus amounting to grave abuse of discretion,” the petition read.

This is the fourth petition filed before the SC in connection with the impeachment proceedings.

The first three were separately filed by Vice President Sara Duterte, a group of lawyers, and another group composed of lawyers and private citizens.

The High Court has ordered the House of Representatives and the House committee on justice to comment on the petitions.—MCG, GMA News