VICE President Sara Duterte’s legal team has dismissed the “factual misunderstandings” raised by the House of Representatives in its motion for reconsideration of the Supreme Court’s (SC) impeachment ruling, arguing that these do not alter the core reasoning behind the court’s decision to strike down the articles of impeachment as void and unconstitutional.
In its comment filed with the SC, Duterte’s lawyers urged the court to deny the House’s motion, characterizing the issues raised as “mere diversions obsessed with trivia and blind to the Decision’s genuine core reasoning.”
The Duterte camp asserted that the House committed a “grave abuse of discretion” by deliberately circumventing constitutionally imposed limitations on its power to impeach.
Specifically, the Duterte camp refuted the House’s claim that the SC ruling was based on a misapprehension of the timeline of events.
They argued that the SC correctly determined that the House’s inaction on the first three impeachment complaints constituted an “initial action,” triggering the one-year bar rule.
They also defended the SC’s observation that the fourth impeachment complaint was transmitted to the Senate without a plenary vote, emphasizing that this was not the decisive factor in the court’s decision.
The Duterte camp further argued that the SC was justified in laying down new doctrines based on the unique circumstances of the case, and that the House cannot claim reliance on old doctrines in “good faith” to avoid the consequences of its actions.
