Sara accused of slowing House impeachment bid

VICE-PRESIDENT Sara Duterte-Carpio’s legal team is trying to blunt an impeachment bid by shifting the fight from evidence-gathering hearings in the House of Representatives to the Supreme Court, where procedural challenges could delay the process before more testimony and records are aired publicly, analysts said.

“Sara Duterte is obviously afraid about what will come out of the trial,” Eldridge Marvin B. Aceron, a lawyer and managing partner at Aceron & Attorneys, told BusinessWorld via Facebook Messenger. “There are pieces of evidence that she doesn’t want the public to know. She filed a crafty answer, avoiding engagement with the allegations and harping on procedure.”

“The Duterte side has been pounding on the law since this all started, even setting the stage for novel jurisprudence on impeachment,” Mr. Aceron added. “They are losing on the evidence side.”

Michael T. Poa, lawyer for Ms. Duterte, did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment.

Voltaire Bohol, president of the August Twenty-One Movement, said petitions now pending before the Supreme Court signal confidence in judicial relief rather than a legislative resolution.

“It’s obvious the camp of the Vice-President is banking on the court to bail them out again, like what happened last year,” he told BusinessWorld via Viber, adding that lawmakers should be allowed to finish their inquiry without interruption.

The high court has consolidated petitions questioning the House impeachment process and ordered congressmen to comment on the lawsuit within 10 days. It declined to issue a temporary restraining order, allowing the House Justice Committee to proceed with hearings scheduled for April 14, 22 and 29. Lawmakers are expected to continue receiving witnesses and documentary submissions while the court reviews the procedural challenge.

Analysts said the lack of injunctive relief keeps the impeachment moving while giving the Duterte camp space to argue jurisdiction and due process. They said such strategies are common in high-stakes political cases, where delay can alter public attention, internal dynamics in Congress or the broader political climate.

Mr. Aceron said the Vice-President’s continued absence from House hearings appears designed to limit reputational risk from direct questioning by veteran litigators.

He said her legal team appears focused on written pleadings and court filings rather than confrontation in televised proceedings, where missteps could reverberate politically. The approach, he added, aims to avoid a scenario where testimony or cross-examination escalates pressure on the defense before the formal trial stage.

The petitions also revive debate over the constitutional balance between Congress and the Judiciary. Critics argue that premature court intervention risks weakening impeachment as an accountability tool, while supporters say judicial review is needed to enforce procedural guardrails in politically charged proceedings.

Political friction over impeachment is not new. In 2025, a Senate decision to archive earlier impeachment complaints sparked public debate over constitutional duty, legislative discretion and the limits of judicial involvement. The episode left unresolved questions about how aggressively courts should police impeachment mechanics versus deferring to Congress.

Antonio A. Ligon, a law professor at De La Salle University in Manila, said the pleadings are consistent with efforts to pause or slow political-legal proceedings but stressed that impeachment is a constitutionally assigned process that should proceed unless there is clear abuse.

He said impeachment is the primary venue for testing allegations against high officials and equal branch status does not justify court intervention in the absence of constitutional violations.

Analysts also flagged potential public perception risks if the court were to halt proceedings outright. Mr. Ligon said a judicial stop could be framed by some as shielding a sitting Vice-President.

“To an ordinary Filipino, if the court stops the impeachment, he might think that Congress is trying to stop the [presidential ambition] of Vice-President Sara,” he added. — Erika Mae P. Sinaking