THE Supreme Court is unlikely to intervene in Congress’s impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, according to House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor.
House Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor expressed this view in reaction to the filing by the Vice President of a petition questioning her House impeachment and asking the Supreme Court (SC) to stop her impending Senate trial.
“I have yet to read the petition. But as a rule, impeachment is a political question and the Supreme Court will exercise judicial restraint. It will not interfere with the impeachment process,” Defensor, a lawyer and member of the 11-man House prosecution team, said.
The House impeached the Vice President by an overwhelming vote. The complaint containing the impeachment charges against her was signed by 215 House members, more than double the 103 required for a petition to go directly to the Senate for trial.
There is growing public clamor for senators to convene themselves into an impeachment court as soon as possible for Vice President Duterte’s trial, though Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero has said the trial could start after the incoming 20th Congress convenes in July.
The Vice President’s petition is separate from the one with the same prayer filed by some Mindanao-based lawyers associated with her father, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte.
While the two petitions seek to stop the Vice President’s trial, another complaint is asking the SC to compel senators to convene as an impeachment court and proceed with the trial immediately.
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