A Facebook post claims that the Supreme Court has expelled Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. as a member of the House of Representatives. This is false.
Under the principle of separation of powers in the Constitution, the Supreme Court cannot directly expel a member of the House of Representatives, as that power belongs exclusively to the House itself with a two-thirds majority vote.
Published on Jan. 28, the graphic bore a text saying:
“Korte nagdesisyon na may biglaang hatol kay Abante? Pinatalsek sa Kamara
(Court decides to issue a sudden verdict against Abante? Expelled from the House)?”
It has a caption that read:
“Hindi na nakapalag si Abante sa hagupit ng tadhana matapos ang nakakagulat na utos ng Korte na yumanig sa buong Kamara at Comelec. Sobrang kahihiyan ang inabot niya at marami ang nagsasabing ito na ang singil sa kanyang mga ginawa na hindi niya inaasahan
(Abante could no longer escape the blows of fate after the shocking court order that shook the entire House and Comelec. He suffered a great deal of humiliation, and many are saying that this is the price he paid for his actions that he did not expect).”
The graphic has an inset photo of five Supreme Court justices and an arrow pointing to an image of Abante on the lower right corner. On the left side was a photo of
SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting and Vice President Sara Duterte behind her.
As of Feb. 2, Abante remains in his post. He was seen actively participating in the first hearing of the Committee on Justice on the impeachment complaint against President Ferdinand Maros Jr. There has been no move to have him expelled from the House of Representatives.
Although the Supreme Court cannot directly expel a member of the House of Representatives, it has judicial review power to determine if the expulsion violated the Constitution.
As of date, no expulsion proceedings have been initiated against Abante.
In the comment section, there was a link to a fake article dated Jan. 27, attributing Abante’s alleged expulsion to a ruling penned by Associate Justice Samuel Gaerlan, abandoning the second placer rule and declaring that the rules on succession under the Local Government Code should apply in all cases where a permanent vacancy results from a local elective official’s disqualification from office regardless of the proceedings involved.
Abante was declared representative of Manila’s sixth legislative district despite coming second to Luis ‘Joey’ Chua Uy, who was disqualified by the Commission on Elections over questions surrounding his citizenship.
The erroneous post by PP Moments (created on Dec. 10, 2025) has so far garnered 8,600 reactions; 3,500 comments; and 709 shares.
