Religious groups urge SC to reverse ruling on Sara Duterte impeachment

MANILA, Philippines — Religious groups have asked the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision declaring the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional.

In a 75-page petition filed Monday, Aug. 11, they also sought to formally join the case and urged the high court to “reverse and set aside” its ruling.

The petitioners are Rev. Fr. Antonio Labiao Jr., Rev. Fr. Joel Saballa and Rev. Fr. Ruben Villanueva, all Roman Catholic priests from the Diocese of Novaliches; Wilfredo Villanueva and Pinky Tam from the Stand Up for God (SUGOD) Rosary Group; the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM); and Maria Loreto Lopez, co-founder of the Matina Community Pantry and a member of Konsensya Davao and SELDA Greater Davao.

The petitioners argued that Duterte’s impeachment is a matter of “transcendental importance” that must be resolved. They said impeachment is a fundamental constitutional power that enables the public to hold high-ranking officials accountable and is a vital part of the government’s system of checks and balances.

They argued that the Supreme Court’s decision altered existing impeachment principles and procedures by redefining the one-year bar rule, imposing new requirements on initiating complaints, reducing the modes of initiation, defining impeachable offenses and the quantum of evidence, and applying these changes retrospectively.

These changes, they said, have “effectively weakened the constitutional mechanism for exacting accountability.”

Risk of sham complaints. The groups warned that dismissing the first three impeachment complaints exposes the process to “sham, frivolous, or defective complaints.” They criticized the Court’s ruling that the House secretary general and the speaker have no discretion to dismiss a complaint before referring it to the Justice Committee.

They argued this could allow a fraudulent complaint to move forward, “inoculating” the public official from any legitimate impeachment for a year under the one-year bar rule.

“A political ally of the impeachable official can race to file a sham complaint to make the impeachment inutile,” the petition read. “In any case, declaring an impeachment complaint effectively dismissed and deeming the impeachment proceeding initiated lead to absurdities.”

Other motions filed. The filing comes days after the House of Representatives submitted its own motion for reconsideration on Aug. 4. Several other groups have also sought to intervene and reverse the ruling.

On Aug. 5, opposition coalition 1Sambayan filed a motion to intervene and a motion for reconsideration, asking the high court to hold oral arguments on the case.

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