Vice President Sara Duterte addresses the media at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center in Quezon City on November 26, 2024. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News/File 

MANILA — Lawyers and other individuals from Mindanao asked the Supreme Court Tuesday to issue a temporary restraining order against the conduct of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte by the Senate, citing “defective” articles of impeachment filed by the House of Representatives.

The petition for certiorari and prohibition filed by lawyers led by Israelito Torreon and Martin Delgra III argued that the articles of impeachment were issued with grave abuse of discretion. 

“This petition likewise prays for the issuance of a writ of prohibition to enjoin and prohibit the Senate of the Philippines from acting on the Articles of Impeachment and from proceeding with the impeachment trial, considering that the initiation of the impeachment complaint was procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void,” the petitioners said. 

Torreon noted that the impeachment complaint was processed without prior committee evaluation and absence or defect in the verification process.

“The verification process requires that it should be personally known, the allegations, or personally known and studied by the respective congressmen who signed it and if you noticed the congressmen who went there did not even know as to the subject matter of the discussion in the House caucus,” Torreon said.

The petitioners include Davao City Councilor Luna Maria Dominique Acosta, Bai Jundra Cassandra Dominique Advincula, Lord Byron Cristobal.

They prayed that the Supreme Court issued a TRO or writ of preliminary injunction directing the Senate to cease and desist from conducting impeachment proceedings.

They also asked the high court to declare the articles of impeachment null and void and permanently enjoin the Senate from proceeding with a supposedly invalid impeachment complaint.

Torreon argued that the ban against a second impeachment complaint within a period of year had already operated when the fourth complaint was entertained by the House.

“It is therefore for this Honorable Court to declare the impeachment complaint void ab initio for being constitutionally and procedurally defective and issue a writ of prohibition directing the Senate of the Philippines to refrain from conducting impeachment proceedings based on an invalid and jurisdictionally infirm impeachment complaint,” the petitioners said in the complaint.

Torreon said the impeachment of the Vice President was plain political persecution.

“Of course, you cannot describe it otherwise, this is part of the plan to eliminate her as the probable contender in the 2028 national elections, that’s my personal belief,” Torreon said.

WHAT HOUSE MEMBERS SAY

1-RIDER party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, a member of the House prosecution panel, said articles of impeachment filed by the chamber were “complete” and “within the bounds of law.” 

“We follow the process. It was transmitted according to the requirements of the Constitution,” Gutierrez added.

Another House impeachment prosecutor, AKO BICOL party-list Rep. Jil Bongalon said the petition was a “mere publicity stunt or an act of desperation”.

Lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc in Congress said the petition against Duterte’s impeachment was meant “to obstruct justice and evade accountability.”

They maintained that the impeachment complaint was “valid and properly filed, following all constitutional requirements.”

"We call on the Supreme Court to dismiss this baseless petition and allow the impeachment process to proceed according to constitutional mandate. All the more the Senate must convene as an impeachment court without delay. The Filipino people deserve no less than full transparency and accountability from their public officials," the group added.

The Makabayan lawmakers endorsed the second impeachment complaint against the Vice President. They are also among over 200 House members who signed the fourth impeachment complaint transmitted to the Senate.

House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez and Senate President Francis Escudero, named as respondents, have yet to comment on the planned petition.

Pimentel urges Escudero to start Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial immediately

Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of "violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes".

Accusations spelled out in the 44-page document include an alleged plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a Marcos cousin.

Sara Duterte says she’s ‘okay’ after impeachment: ‘We leave it to the lawyers’

Last week, the Vice President once again said comments taken from an expletive-filled speech where she claimed herself to be the subject of a plot had been taken out of context.

Sixteen votes in the 24-seat Senate are now needed to deliver a conviction that would bar Duterte from public office, including a presidential run she says she is "seriously considering".

Escudero has said Duterte's trial will probably not begin until after May's mid-term elections -- or finish before the next congress takes over in July.

'Marami pwedeng mangyari': Senate on the hot seat in VP Duterte impeach trial

— With reports from Paige Javier, ABS-CBN News; Agence France-Presse