Senate archives Duterte impeachment case

National

THE Senate on Wednesday, August 6, voted to archive the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte after hours of debating whether to reject or postpone action on the Supreme Court's (SC) ruling that declared the impeachment complaint unconditional.

With a 19-4 vote and one abstention, the Senate decided to archive the articles of impeachment to comply with the SC's decision, which noted that the House of Representatives had gravely abused its discretion in the use of its impeachment powers.

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano explained that the impeachment complaint against Duterte can only be revived by a reversal of the SC's decision.

The four Senators who voted no to the motion were Senators Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Bam Aquino, Risa Hontiveros, and Francis Pangilinan. Meanwhile, Senator Panfilo Lacson abstained.

Before voting to archive the impeachment complaint, the Senators voted 19-5 to reject the motion of Minority Leader Tito Sotto to “table” or postpone action on Senator Rodante Marcoleta’s motion seeking the total dismissal of the impeachment complaint.

Sotto and Marcoleta previously debated on whether the body should wait for the high court to act on the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives to overturn the decision.

Marcoleta originally moved to dismiss the case.

Cayetano advised him to replace “dismiss” with “archive” in his motion, noting that the Senate only had two options: whether to follow the SC's decision or not.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva suggested to amend Marcoleta's motion, stating that the articles of impeachment should be archived “in adherence” to the SC's decision, emphasizing that the Senate did not gain the jurisdiction over the impeachment case since it was deemed unconditional.

Marcoleta then agreed to the amendment of the motion. (Marlon Ado Jr., USC Comm Intern)