MANILA — A lawyer has filed petition for mandamus before the Supreme Court to seek a court order for the Senate to immediately act on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

In the petition filed Friday, lawyer Catalino Generillo Jr. asked the high court to issue a writ of mandamus so that senators will immediately constitute themselves into an impeachment court and “forthwith” conduct a public trial, following the filing of the impeachment case by the House of Representatives.  

Duterte has denied allegations, including of irregularities in how confidential funds allocated to her office were used, and has attributed the proceedings against her to partisan politics.

Tolentino: Supreme Court may need to rule on what 'forthwith' means in impeachment cases

Lawyers, including a senator and a former Supreme Court associate justice, have said the Supreme Court may have to rule on issues related to the impeachment, including how soon "forthwith" after receiving the articles of impeachment that the Senate should convene for trial.

Generillo said in the petition that senators “are not suffering from any kind of disability, physical or mental" that would keep them from convening an impeachment court and "forthwith conduct public trial to determine whether the Vice President is guilty or not."

Congress is on break and the Senate went into recess without discussing the articles of impeachment that the House of Representatives adopted and transmitted on the last day of session.

Generillo stressed that the Constitution used the word "forthwith," which means "immediately," "at once," "instantly," "straight away",  in its provision on impeachment.

Former Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has said he does not believe the SC can compel the Senate to act on the impeachment case.

Sessions of the Senate and the House of Representatives are set to resume after the midterm elections and Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero has said trial might start in July.

Generilla said in his petitions that he believes the Constitution does not allow the Senate to “procrastinate” during the period it is on recess.

Escudero has said the articles of impeachment have to be checked and verified before inclusion on the Senate's agenda.

He has also said House members should not try to push the Senate to act on allegations that it took district and party-list representatives months to decide to impeach Duterte for.