The Philippines’ top court blocked the impending Senate impeachment trial of vice president Sara Duterte on Friday, saying it violated a constitutional provision against multiple impeachment proceedings within a single year.
The 13-0 ruling came just days before the Senate was to begin its new session, with the vice president’s political future hanging in the balance.
Widely expected to run for president in 2028, a Senate trial conviction would have barred Duterte permanently from public office.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte in early February, charging the vice president with graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos.
But her defence team filed a petition arguing that a trio of earlier complaints logged against her in the House — but voted on only at the committee level — had constituted impeachment proceedings.
On Friday, the court agreed.
‘The Supreme Court has ruled that the House impeachment complaint versus VP Sara Duterte is barred by the one-year rule and that due process or fairness applies during all stages of the impeachment process,’ court spokeswoman Camille Ting told reporters.
‘There is a right way to do the right things at the right time,’ Ting said, adding that a fresh impeachment attempt could be introduced, but not before February 6, 2026.
Duterte’s defence team welcomed the decision, saying the court had ‘upheld the rule of law and reinforced the constitutional limits against abuse of the impeachment process’.
But Duterte opponents were outraged, with the left-leaning Akbayan party calling it a ‘stain’ on the court’s reputation.
‘The one-year rule is meant to prevent harassment through repeated impeachment attempts. However, it has been weaponised to preempt any attempt to hold VP Sara accountable,’ it said in a statement.
Congresswoman Leila de Lima, scheduled to act as a prosecutor for the House, called the decision ‘procedurally questionable’.
‘I respect the Supreme Court. But in a case of this magnitude we must demand clarity, not shortcuts. The public deserves an explanation,’ she said.
Michael Henry Yusingco, senior research fellow at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government, said that while he expected the House to file a motion for reconsideration, he saw little chance of the Supreme Court changing its decision.
‘Needless to say, this is a win for the vice president,’ he said, adding he expected Duterte to ‘heighten her political offensive against the Marcos administration and its allies’.
The Philippine Senate briefly convened an impeachment court last month, only to send the case back to the House of Representatives hours later, questioning its constitutionality.
Had the trial proceeded, a conviction was far from certain after a slate of candidates loyal to Duterte outperformed expectations in May’s mid-term elections, winning five of the 12 open seats and upping her chances for acquittal.
Duterte swept to power in 2022 in an alliance of political dynasties with Marcos that began crumbling almost immediately.
The feud exploded into open warfare this year with her impeachment and the subsequent arrest and transfer of her father to face charges at the International Criminal Court at The Hague tied to his deadly drug war.
Marcos had publicly stated that he was against the impeachment while maintaining he was powerless to intervene.
The palace issued a statement on Friday urging Filipinos to ‘respect the Supreme Court and place their trust in our institutions’.
But former congresswoman Sara Elago, one of the petitioners in the impeachment complaint, said her supporters planned to make their voices heard both in the streets and at Marcos’s State of the Nation Address scheduled for Monday.
