VP Sara turns to SC anew to block ‘fishing expedition’

National

By Patricia Andrea Pateña-Matheu

CALLING it a “fishing expedition,” Vice President Sara Duterte’s legal team is once again taking the House of Representatives’ impeachment battle to the Supreme Court.

This marks the second time her lawyers have sought to halt the proceedings, citing alleged overreach by lawmakers.

A group of 10 lawyers, led by Israelito Torreon, filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition through electronic submission, also requesting a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction against House Justice Committee Chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro and House Speaker Faustino Dy III. Among those joining the petition were lawyers Martin Delgra III, Jimmy Bondoc, and Vic Rodriguez, a former executive secretary under President Marcos.

In their statement, the lawyers said the House justice committee “committed grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction by allowing impeachment complaints that are ‘constitutionally and procedurally defective on their face’ to proceed beyond the threshold stage.”

They criticized subpoenas issued during the March 25 hearing, which sought Duterte’s SALNs, NBI records, COA documents, corporate financial statements, and tax records of Duterte, her husband Manases Carpio, and allegedly linked businesses from 2007 to 2025.

They said the subpoenas also targeted NBI documents related to alleged assassination threats involving Duterte, President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

In a Philstar report, Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez described the subpoenas as “a classic fishing expedition,” saying the House exceeded its constitutional authority and rules on impeachment. He added that the committee’s role is to screen complaints, not to manufacture cases, and criticized the expansion of investigative powers to gather documents beyond what the complaints alleged.

The petition also highlighted defects in the third and fourth impeachment complaints, filed by Fr. Jose Saballa and lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera. The lawyers said these relied on conclusions, hearsay, and unauthenticated materials rather than concrete allegations of impeachable acts.

Meanwhile, Duterte’s counsel Paolo Panelo dismissed as “comical” Madriaga’s claim that former Negros Oriental Rep. Arnolfo Teves Jr. wanted him dead, noting that Madriaga had previously alleged Duterte visited him in jail to prevent testimony—a claim quickly debunked by DILG Secretary Jonvic Remulla, who confirmed the Vice President visited Teves, not Madriaga.(MyTVCebu)