MANILA – The Supreme Court was urged to issue a temporary restraining order against the conduct of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio by the Senate, claiming that the Articles of Impeachment filed by the House of Representatives were “defective”.
A group of lawyers led by Israelito Torreon and Martin Delgra III, and individuals from Mindanao on Tuesday filed a petition for certiorari and prohibition stating that the Articles of Impeachment were issued with grave abuse of discretion.
“This petition likewise prays for the issuance of a writ of prohibition to enjoin and prohibit the Senate of the Philippines from acting on the Articles of Impeachment and from proceeding with the impeachment trial, considering that the initiation of the impeachment complaint was procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void,” the petitioners said.
Torreon, also a legal counsel for detained Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, said the impeachment complaint was processed without prior committee evaluation and absence or defect in the verification process.
“The verification process requires that it should be personally known, the allegations, or personally known and studied by the respective congressmen who signed it and if you noticed the congressmen who went there did not even know as to the subject matter of the discussion in the House caucus,” Torreon said.
The petitioners also prayed that the high court issued a TRO or writ of preliminary injunction directing the Senate to cease and desist from conducting impeachment proceedings.
They also asked SC to declare the Articles of Impeachment null and void and permanently enjoin the Senate from proceeding with a supposedly invalid impeachment complaint.
Torreon argued that the ban against a second impeachment complaint within a period of year had already operated when the fourth complaint was entertained by the House.
“It is therefore for this Honorable Court to declare the impeachment complaint void ab initio for being constitutionally and procedurally defective and issue a writ of prohibition directing the Senate of the Philippines to refrain from conducting impeachment proceedings based on an invalid and jurisdictionally infirm impeachment complaint,” the petitioners said.
“Of course, you cannot describe it otherwise, this is part of the plan to eliminate her as the probable contender in the 2028 national elections, that’s my personal belief,” they added.
Duterte-Carpio was impeached by the House of Representatives on charges of “violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.”/PN
