SAN Juan Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora has pushed back on claims that the House of Representatives was staging a “mini-trial” in the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, stressing that the justice committee’s move to invite the respondent was part of the due process required under prevailing Supreme Court (SC) rulings.
Zamora, vice chair of the House Committee on Justice, pointed out that Duterte’s own camp had earlier challenged the House’s handling of the impeachment complaint, particularly the move to transmit the articles directly to the Senate without passing through the committee process.
“Remember last year when we filed the impeachment case against the Vice President by way of the one-third vote mode, kinuwestiyon po nila ‘yan sa Supreme Court dahil ang gusto nila dumaan sa Committee on Justice,” Zamora said.
“And in fact, the decision of the Supreme Court, which appeared to be favorable to them, declared that Congress has to go through the committee on justice and afford the vice president or the respondent due process,” she added.
“‘Yan nga po ang ginagawa namin. So in fact, sila po ang humiling ng ganitong proseso ang gawin,” Zamora pointed out.
The lawmaker’s remarks came as Duterte and her counsels skipped the March 25 hearing of the Justice committee despite having been invited to attend, with her camp later insisting that the proceedings were unconstitutional and characterizing them as a “mini-trial.”
Zamora disputed that description and clarified the distinction between the House panel’s actions and the Senate’s role in an actual impeachment case, stating that the committee hearing aimed to determine whether there was probable cause to elevate the matter further.
She maintained that the panel was not conducting a trial but carrying out the preliminary process required before the case could move forward, a step she argued was in line with the same due process standards that Duterte’s side had earlier invoked before the High Court.
In 2025, the House transmitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate after 215 lawmakers, more than the required one-third of the chamber’s total membership, backed the move.
Zamora also brushed aside the legal arguments raised by Duterte’s camp for not showing up at the hearing, saying it was only natural for defense lawyers to exhaust every possible line of argument on behalf of their client.
“The lawyer for a client will say everything they can to create an excuse for not attending the hearings,” she said.
Under House rules, counsel for both the complainants and the respondent may assist their respective sides during committee proceedings, although they are barred from directly taking part in the hearing in the same way lawyers would during a Senate impeachment trial.
