House prosecutor and Ako Bicol Party-list Representative Jil Bongalon criticized Vice President Sara Duterte’s petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to halt her impeachment trial in the Senate.
Bongalon described the move as a desperate act, noting that Duterte is the first impeached official to seek the High Court’s intervention to stop the proceedings.
He argued that instead of defending herself in the impeachment court, Duterte is attempting to block the trial, which suggests weakness in her defense.
The lawmaker pointed out that in the history of impeachment in the Philippines, no impeached official has ever tried to halt the process through the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice Renato Corona (2012) faced the Senate trial and was later found guilty, without seeking to stop the process beforehand.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno (2018) questioned the process but did not ask the court to halt the impeachment against her.
Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez (2011) chose to resign rather than face trial, yet she also did not attempt to block it through the judiciary.
According to Bongalon, Duterte’s clear strategy is to prevent the process from even beginning instead of answering the allegations against her in the Senate.
The congressman explained that impeachment is not a judicial process but a mechanism of political accountability entrusted to Congress.
He stressed that the Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that impeachment is beyond judicial review, making Duterte’s petition not only desperate but also legally weak.
Bongalon warned that if the Supreme Court grants Duterte’s petition, it could set a dangerous precedent where future impeached officials bypass Congress and use the judiciary as a shield from accountability.
He reiterated that impeachment is a constitutional mechanism to ensure no government official is above the law, and allowing judicial interference would undermine the separation of powers and weaken democratic institutions.
The House prosecutor urged Duterte to face the process rather than use technical strategies to derail the trial.