Vice President Sara Duterte suffered a defeat at the Supreme Court (SC) filled by appointees of her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Via a unanimous decision on Wednesday, August 5, the High Court junked the two petitions — including the one filed by the Vice President herself — questioning her impeachment proceedings.
The petition questioned the validity of the hearings on the impeachment complaints conducted by the House committee on justice. In other words, the Vice President was challenging the early stages of her impeachment proceedings that are currently in full-blown trial at the Senate impeachment court.
Should the petitions have been granted, they might have had an adverse effect on the ongoing trial.
The SC dismissed the consolidated petitions GR No. E-05546 (filed by lawyer Israelito Torreon, et al.) and GR No. E-05667 (filed by Duterte) for being moot, or no longer being in need of resolution. It explained that this was so because the House already approved and transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate.
