MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte thanked her legal team and her supporters after the Supreme Court decided with finality that her impeachment case filed at the House of Representatives was unconstitutional.
In a unanimous ruling issued on Thursday, the Court reiterated that Duterte's fourth impeachment complaint violated her due process..
"Yes, unang pasalamat ko sa Diyos, Pangalawang pasasalamat ko ay sa mga abogado na nagtulong-tulong para questionin yung pag-abuso ng proseso ng impeachment ng House of Representatives. At pangatlo, ay yung pasalamat ko sa lahat ng kababayan na patuloy na naniniwala at nagtitiwala sa akin (I thank god first, then my lawyers who questioned the abuse in the process of impeachment of the House of Representatives, and third to every Filipino who continue to trust me)," Duterte said in an interview at The Hague in The Netherlands, where she visited her jailed father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.
Her father questioned the constitutionality of her case before the Supreme Court, alongside other lawyers such as Sigfrid Fortun, Gregorio Narvasa 2nd, her father-in-law Lucas Carpio Jr. and former Office of the Vice President spokesman Michael Poa.
She also said that her legal team met over the Christmas break in anticipation of impeachment cases that would be filed against her until the end of her term.
Duterte said that plans to impeach her had been brewing that was why her legal team was hired as early as the fourth quarter of 2023 after a lawmaker at the House announced that a case would be filed against her.