By AJ Alarcon

On Wednesday, June 11, the House of Representatives deferred the acceptance of the Senate-returned impeachment articles against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing their adherence to the 1987 Constitution and the need to resolve pending inquiries regarding the remand. 

During the final session day of the 19th Congress, House Deputy Majority Leader Faustino Dy filed a motion to defer action on the articles until the impeachment court has “responded to the clarificatory queries raised by the panel of prosecutors relative to the remand of the subject articles.”

With no objections raised, Deputy Speaker Robbie Puno — the presiding officer — approved the motion.

Earlier in the session, the lower chamber adopted House Resolution (HR) No. 2346, which affirmed that the impeachment proceedings initiated on February 5, 2025, were conducted “in full compliance with the Constitution, the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the House of Representatives, and applicable jurisprudence.”

The resolution also addressed concerns about the constitutionality of the sequence and timing of the complaints filed against Duterte.

Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro — a member of the prosecution team — stated, “The impeachment trial is pushing through. No one can stop this anymore because jurisdiction has been acquired already by the impeachment court over the person of the respondent.”

Luistro stressed that the Vice President has a non-extendable period of 10 days to answer, following the issuance of a summons.

The House prosecution panel insisted that clarification from the Senate impeachment court regarding the remanded articles is essential before proceeding further.

Back-and-Forth

The Senate convened as an impeachment court on Tuesday, June 10, following the senators’ oath-taking as trial judges.

However, 18 senators voted to return the impeachment articles to the House of Representatives to give Duterte an opportunity to respond to alleged constitutional flaws in the complaint.

Notably, only 5 senators — Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel, Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, Sen. Nancy Binay, and Sen. Grace Poe — voted against the motion.

Ateneo Joins the Call

Prior to the latest motion on the impeachment trial, the Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) urged the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial in a statement released on Saturday, June 7.

The school stated that dismissing the case without holding a proper trial is a failure to fulfill one’s duty and a “clear attempt to whitewash” the claims against Duterte. 

“Convene the impeachment court now,” the school asserted.

Moreover, deans of the five Ateneo schools and colleges of law — Ateneo de Manila University, Xavier University-Ateneo de Cagayan, Ateneo de Davao University, Ateneo de Zamboanga University, and Ateneo de Naga University — released a joint statement on June 8 regarding the matter.

As formators of Filipino Jesuit educational institutions, they wrote, “Faithful obedience to the constitutional mandates is requisite and mandatory; hence, not discretionary and optional.”

“We are making this urgent call in faithful response to our moral and spiritual duty as educators and formators of future Ateneo lawyers,” they concluded.