After saying that the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte is dead, Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III now admits it is “technically” still alive.
Nineteen of the 24 senators voted on Aug. 7 to archive the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte pending the Supreme Court’s resolution of the appeals on its ruling that declared the case unconstitutional. Sotto is among the four senators who opposed the motion.
STATEMENT:
In the Aug. 7 podcast episode of Facts First Tonight with Christian Esguerra, Sotto was asked if the impeachment case against Duterte is already dead following the Senate’s decision. He answered:
“Technically hindi dahil in-archive mo lang. ‘Yun ang nilinaw ko sa kanila.” (Technically no because you only archived it. That is what I clarified with them.)
Source: Christian Esguerra, Tito Sotto schools senator-lawyers in Sara Duterte impeachment debates, Aug. 7, 2025, watch 15:55 to 16:10
FACT:
In explaining his vote during the Senate plenary session on Aug. 6, Sotto said:
“The Supreme Court decision is now pending appeal. It is prudent to wait for the results than prematurely archiving, if not dismissing, because I know for a fact, once it is archived it is dead.“
Source: Senate of the Philippines, Senate Session No. 6 (August 6, 2025), Aug. 6, 2025, watch from 3:54:36 to 3:54:55
Sotto issued the clarification a day after the Senate vote, as some of his fellow legislators, political analysts and legal experts, including retired SC associate justice Adolfo Azcuna, challenged his earlier statement.
Azcuna, one of the authors of the 1987 Constitution, told One News on TV5, “It (archiving the impeachment complaint) does not kill the articles. It’s still alive, only set aside.”
On July 25, the Supreme Court declared as unconstitutional the Articles of Impeachment against the vice president. It ruled that the case is barred by the one-year rule under the Constitution, which states that “[n]o impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.”
The High Court further said that the decision is “immediately executory,” which prompted the Senate to convene and consequently vote to archive the impeachment case.
The SC ruling is, however, not yet final. On Aug. 5, the House of Representatives filed a motion for reconsideration. It later ordered Duterte and Davao-based lawyer Israelito Torreon, who filed a separate petition in February, to comment on the House appeal within a non-extendible period of 10 days.
The High Court has yet to receive Duterte’s comment.
