During a Senate plenary session on Wednesday, Senator Rodante Marcoleta formally moved to dismiss the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing the Supreme Court’s ruling declaring it unconstitutional and void from the start.
In his privilege speech, Marcoleta emphasized that the High Court’s decision is final and immediately executory. He argued that the Senate never had jurisdiction over the case.
However, Senate Minority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III opposed the motion, urging colleagues to wait for the Supreme Court’s action on the House of Representatives’ motion for reconsideration. Sotto instead moved to table Marcoleta’s motion, stressing the importance of allowing the SC to correct what he described as “blatant errors” in its earlier decision.
The SC had earlier ruled 13-0-2 that the impeachment complaint violated the one-year bar rule under the Constitution and infringed on Duterte’s right to due process.
