MANILA, Philippines — For the prosecution team, it was already a victory that the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte has started.
"We are victorious. The prosecution succeeded. The public succeeded. Because we have waited for this impeachment trial for so long and it is happening right now. [On] that alone, we claim victory for what happened today", Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, lead prosecutor, said in a press conference on Monday.
The impeachment trial started on Monday with the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.
Under the 1987 Constitution, only the House of Representatives can initiate an impeachment case and only the Senate can conduct an impeachment trial.
The House of Representatives, voting 257-25 with nine abstentions, impeached Duterte on May 11, 2026 over alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth allegedly amassed, alleged bribery, and the kill remark against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It then sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.
Her camp sought the dismissal of the impeachment articles, concluding that the articles lacked enough factual or legal bases.
The House in Feb. 2025, during the previous or 19th Congress, decided to impeach Duterte over alleged misuse of confidential funds, among others. The Supreme Court decided that the impeachment complaint was barred by the one-year rule.
The 1987 Constitution prohibits the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a one-year period.
Before the House decided to impeach Duterte in 2025, three impeachment complaints had been filed against her at the House. What reached the Senate then was a complaint other than those three.
The House filed a motion for reconsideration that year. Later, the High Court upheld its decision to declare as unconstitutional the impeachment articles sent by the House to the Senate in 2025.
