Latest news with #PhilippineSupremeCourt
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Philippine Supreme Court rules impeachment bid against Vice-President is unconstitutional
The Philippine Supreme Court ruled on Friday (July 25, 2025) that an impeachment case filed against Vice President Sara Duterte violated the country's constitution due to a key technicality, a decision that blocks her upcoming trial over a raft of criminal allegations including her threat to have the President assassinated. The House of Representatives, which impeached Ms. Duterte in February and sent the case to the Senate for trial, violated a rule that only one impeachment case could be processed by the lower chamber against an impeachable official in a single year, court spokesperson Camille Ting said. The House received at least four separate impeachment cases against Ms. Duterte between December and February but only one was transmitted to the Senate, which would have served as an impeachment tribunal. The other three impeachment cases were placed in the House's order of business but were archived with no action and 'effectively dismissed,' according to the ruling. The ruling was 'immediately executory,' the court said. 'It is not our duty to favour any political result,' the court said in a statement, suggesting it did not pass judgement on the array of allegations. 'Ours is to ensure that politics are framed within the rule of just law.' Ms. Duterte's lawyers welcomed the decision, which they said upheld the rule of law. 'We remain prepared to address the allegations at the proper time and before the appropriate forum," the attorneys in a statement. Ms. Duterte, 47, became the first Vice President of the Philippines to be impeached by the House in February over an array of alleged high crimes. The accusations were led by her threat during a November online news conference to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and cousin, then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez, killed by an assassin if she were killed herself during her high-profile disputes with them. The daughter of Marcos' controversial predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, she also has been accused of large-scale corruption, sedition, terrorism and failing to openly support Philippine government efforts to oppose and denounce China's aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea. Ms. Duterte allegedly backed her father's brutal crackdowns against illegal drugs that led to extrajudicial killings in their southern home city. Her impeachment trial was set to begin either next week or early next month by the 24-member Senate, which has convened to hear the case. If the Supreme Court ruling becomes final, the Vice President's opponents could file another impeachment case after a year. Ms. Duterte ran as Marcos's running mate in 2022 on a campaign battle cry of unity in their deeply divided and poverty-stricken Southeast Asian country. Both were scions of strongmen accused of human rights violations, but their strong regional bases of political support combined to give them landslide victories. Their whirlwind political alliance, however, rapidly frayed when they took office. Ms. Duterte's father openly accused Marcos of being a weak leader and a drug addict even during the campaign, allegations the President denied. The Vice President later resigned from her then-concurrent Cabinet post as Educations Secretary as the rifts between the two political families deepened. She later accused Marcos, his wife and Romualdez of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028 when Marcos's six-year term ends. Ms. Duterte made the comment about killing Marcos and his family members during a Nov. 23 news conference, a threat she warned wasn't a joke. Faced with the prospects of criminal lawsuits, Ms. Duterte later said she wasn't threatening him but was expressing concern for her own safety. Still, her statements set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns and prompted calls for her impeachment. Among the impeachment complaint signatories was the president's son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and Romualdez. The petition urged the Senate to shift into an impeachment court to try the vice president, 'render a judgement of conviction,' remove her from office and ban her from holding public office. 'Duterte's conduct throughout her tenure clearly displays gross faithlessness against public trust and a tyrannical abuse of power that, taken together, showcases her gross unfitness to hold public office and her infidelity to the laws and the 1987 Constitution,' the complaint said. Last month, senators voted to send the raft of complaints back to the House due to legal questions, sparking street protests demanding Ms. Duterte's immediate trial. Then-Senate President Chiz Escudero said the move led by Ms. Duterte's allies in the Senate did not mean the impeachment complaint was being dismissed and issued a summons for Ms. Duterte to appear when the trial proceeds.
New Indian Express
7 days ago
- Politics
- New Indian Express
Philippine Supreme Court rules impeachment bid against V-P Sara Duterte as unconstitutional
MANILA: The Philippine Supreme Court ruled Friday that an impeachment case filed against Vice President Sara Duterte violated the country's constitution due to a key technicality, a decision that blocks her upcoming trial over a raft of criminal allegations including her threat to have the president assassinated. The House of Representatives, which impeached Duterte in February and sent the case to the Senate for trial, violated a rule that only one impeachment case could be processed by the lower chamber against an impeachable official in a single year, court spokesperson Camille Ting said. The House received at least four separate impeachment cases against Duterte between December and February but only one was transmitted to the Senate, which would have served as an impeachment tribunal. The other three impeachment cases were placed in the House's order of business but were archived with no action and 'effectively dismissed,' according to the ruling. The ruling was 'immediately executory,' the court said. 'It is not our duty to favor any political result,' the court said in a statement, suggesting it did not pass judgement on the array of allegations. 'Ours is to ensure that politics are framed within the rule of just law.' Duterte's lawyers welcomed the decision, which they said upheld the rule of law. 'We remain prepared to address the allegations at the proper time and before the appropriate forum," the attorneys in a statement. Duterte, 47, became the first vice president of the Philippines to be impeached by the House in February over an array of alleged high crimes. The accusations were led by her threat during a November online news conference to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife and cousin, then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez, killed by an assassin if she were killed herself during her high-profile disputes with them. The daughter of Marcos' controversial predecessor, Rodrigo Duterte, she also has been accused of large-scale corruption, sedition, terrorism and failing to openly support Philippine government efforts to oppose and denounce China's aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea. Duterte allegedly backed her father's brutal crackdowns against illegal drugs that led to extrajudicial killings in their southern home city. Her impeachment trial was set to begin either next week or early next month by the 24-member Senate, which has convened to hear the case. If the Supreme Court ruling becomes final, the vice president's opponents could file another impeachment case after a year. Duterte ran as Marcos's running mate in 2022 on a campaign battle cry of unity in their deeply divided and poverty-stricken Southeast Asian country. Both were scions of strongmen accused of human rights violations, but their strong regional bases of political support combined to give them landslide victories. Their whirlwind political alliance, however, rapidly frayed when they took office. Duterte's father openly accused Marcos of being a weak leader and a drug addict even during the campaign, allegations the president denied. The vice president later resigned from her then-concurrent Cabinet post as educations secretary as the rifts between the two political families deepened. She later accused Marcos, his wife and Romualdez of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028 when Marcos's six-year term ends. Duterte made the comment about killing Marcos and his family members during a Nov. 23 news conference, a threat she warned wasn't a joke. Faced with the prospects of criminal lawsuits, Duterte later said she wasn't threatening him but was expressing concern for her own safety. Still, her statements set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns and prompted calls for her impeachment. Among the impeachment complaint signatories was the president's son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and Romualdez. The petition urged the Senate to shift into an impeachment court to try the vice president, 'render a judgement of conviction,' remove her from office and ban her from holding public office. 'Duterte's conduct throughout her tenure clearly displays gross faithlessness against public trust and a tyrannical abuse of power that, taken together, showcases her gross unfitness to hold public office and her infidelity to the laws and the 1987 Constitution,' the complaint said. Last month, senators voted to send the raft of complaints back to the House due to legal questions, sparking street protests demanding Duterte's immediate trial. Then-Senate President Chiz Escudero said the move led by Duterte's allies in the Senate did not mean the impeachment complaint was being dismissed and issued a summons for Duterte to appear when the trial proceeds.
BBC News
7 days ago
- Politics
- BBC News
Philippine court strikes down landmark impeachment bid against Sara Duterte
The Philippine Supreme Court has blocked an impeachment trial against Sara Duterte, marking a victory for the country's vice lower house of the Philippine parliament had voted to impeach Duterte in February after she was accused of misusing public funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos a court spokesperson told reporters on Friday that the impeachment vote violated a constitutional ban on having multiple impeachment proceedings in a a press conference on Friday, the court said it was not absolving Duterte of the charges she faces. But the ruling means she has been granted a reprieve from possible ouster - at least until February 2026. This also gives her more time to gather support for a possible presidential run in the crucial run-up years to the 2028 general even before the ruling, the odds of convicting Sara in the Senate impeachment court or even starting the proceedings was uncertain due to shifting political alliances that followed the general election in May. The feud between Duterte and Marcos had dominated the election, and Duterte won more seats in the Senate than expected, in what was seen as a rebuff of the 15-member Supreme Court is dominated by appointees of Sara's proceedings are extremely divisive in Philippine's chaotic political landscape. Since the restoration of democracy to the country in 1986, only one such attempt has successfully ended with a verdict -- that of former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona, who was convicted of hiding his assets in president Joseph Estrada's impeachment for alleged graft was cut short in 2001, after public anger over the conduct of the trial sparked massive street protests that eventually led to his ouster.
AllAfrica
23-03-2025
- Politics
- AllAfrica
Duterte trial loaded with heavy geopolitical implications
Few saw it coming. Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte's arrest for alleged crimes against humanity under the aegis of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has sent shockwaves across the Southeast Asian nation and worldwide. After decades of political impunity over allegations of overseeing tens of thousands of extrajudicial killings under his scorched-earth drug war, the ex-leader walked straight into a trap laid by the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration, which quickly whisked away Duterte to The Hague despite its longstanding refusal to acknowledge the ICC's jurisdiction. Just hours after returning from Hong Kong, where Duterte was reportedly exploring potential political exile, the former president was taken to the country's main military base and, from there, flown to The Hague via Dubai on a private jet. His allies hopelessly sought to block the arrest by applying for temporary restraining orders from local courts, but the sheer speed of the operation overwhelmed the Philippines' judicial institutions. Filipino legal luminaries such as former ICC judge Raul Pangalangan, however, have argued that the arrest was fundamentally legal, even if controversial, citing legal precedents from various high-profile international cases, including the arrest of Ugandan warlord Dominic Ongwen. Duterte has been accused of overseeing the deaths of tens of thousands of Filipinos, including more than a hundred minors, during anti-drug operations. Although he unilaterally withdrew the Philippines from the ICC to avoid scrutiny, the Philippine Supreme Court determined that the ICC retained jurisdiction over crimes committed during the country's membership between 2011 and 2018. In September, Duterte will officially become the first Asian leader to stand trial for crimes against humanity and, arguably, the most high-profile fugitive under the ICC's custody. This represents a major landmark for the embattled international body, which has faced criticism over its inefficacy and supposed selectiveness in meting out justice. Duterte's arrest has also raised major geopolitical questions, including China's alleged abandonment of a key ally as well as the Trump administration's selective silence on the issue. It's hard to overstate the relevance of Duterte's arrest on multiple fronts. At home, it has sparked a massive political backlash from the former president's supporters, raising concerns over civil unrest, especially in Duterte's home island of Mindanao, where he enjoys wide popularity. Last week, several Duterte allies in the Senate, led by no less than presidential sister Imee Marcos, conducted a hearing, where they questioned and even berated officials involved in Duterte's arrest. A local Social Weather Stations poll shows that a majority of Filipinos favor the ICC trial. According to one authoritative survey last month, 51% of respondents wanted Duterte to face justice as the alleged architect of the extrajudicial killings of thousands of suspected drug dealers. Only 25% disagreed, while a smaller number (14%) were still undecided. Duterte supporters sought to rally public sympathy by highlighting Duterte's age (soon to be 80 years old) and supposed frailty, but the former president seemed hale and energetic just days earlier during a rally among supporters in Hong Kong. There, he admitted that he had caught wind of a possible arrest warrant, but, in an expletive-laced speech, mocked the ICC and remained defiant about his legacy: 'If this is my fate in life, it's OK, I'll accept it. I can't do anything if I get arrested and jailed.' Last year, Duterte also defiantly challenged the ICC to arrest him and, with characteristic machismo and chutzpah, threatened to physically strike at the courts' representatives in the event of any arrest attempt. While in power, he once threatened to feed ICC investigators to 'crocodiles' if they entered the country. The Marcos Jr administration has struggled to provide a clear legal justification for its action, given its earlier opposition to ICC's investigation and even raising questions over its jurisdiction. It simply insisted that it was in no position to defy an international legal body, especially given the Philippines' reliance on international law to preserve its sovereign rights on thorny issues such as the South China Sea disputes with China. Back in 2016, the Philippines won a landmark arbitration case at The Hague, where an international court, under the aegis of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), reaffirmed the Southeast Asian nation's exclusive economic rights in contested portions of the South China Sea. The Marcos Jr administration has repeatedly invoked that ruling to reject China's claims in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. To critics, however, the Marcos Jr administration's decision to cooperate with the ICC seemed politically self-serving rather than principled. After all, the former president's arrest came on the heels of escalating tensions between the Marcos and Duterte dynasties and shortly after government allies impeached Vice President Sara Duterte, the ex-president's daughter, for alleged corruption and misconduct in office. There are broader geopolitical implications of the saga. Earlier arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been challenged by even members of the ICC, while the bulk of ICC trials in the past predominantly focused on alleged criminals from the African continent. Others have accused the body of 'Eurocentrism' and questioned the variable speed of the ICC's response to alleged atrocities in various portions of the world. The Duterte trial, therefore, provides the ICC and, more broadly, the European Union (EU) a historic opportunity to assert its relevance as an anchor of a rules-based international order at a time it's being challenged, if not scrapped, by Donald Trump. The incident also raised questions over Beijing's alleged abandonment of its Filipino ally. Duterte famously met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in mid-2023, sparking controversy at a time Marcos Jr had crossed swords with Beijing over their South China Sea disputes and was pivoting hard back toward the US. Some recent local reports suggest that China refused to provide Duterte sanctuary, deeming the former president more of a liability than an asset. Other keen observers, however, have denied this, arguing that China is known for its reliability as a strategic patron and that Duterte's decision to return home from Hong Kong was driven more by hubris and concern for his embattled daughter, who could face removal from office after midterm elections this year. China indirectly expressed support for its former Filipino ally by publicly urging the ICC against 'politicizing' the trial, although it refused to comment on whether it had offered asylum to Duterte. 'This is an important sudden incident. China has noted the news and is closely following how this might develop,' Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in a regular press conference shortly after the ICC's shock arrest. 'I would like to reiterate China's consistent view that the International Criminal Court should strictly follow the principle of complementarity, exercise its functions and powers prudently in accordance with the law and prevent politicization or double standards,' Mao added, underscoring the possibility that Beijing had lacked prior knowledge of the closely-coordinated arrest between the ICC and Manila. Even more curious, however, is the Trump administration's strategic silence on the issue. Throughout the years, Washington has sanctioned and repeatedly threatened ICC judges with punitive measures. But it has remained eerily silent on Duterte's case, likely due to the former Filipino president's pro-China policies as well as the Philippines' crucial role as a frontline ally in Asia. That position was jeopardized under Duterte but has been reaffirmed under Marcos Jr. US Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth is visiting Manila this week, underscoring the depth and enduring significance of the two sides' strategic partnership. Duterte has seemingly been largely abandoned by former allies both at home and abroad, while the Marcos Jr administration has deftly leveraged the country's growing geopolitical importance to maintain support of certain key Western allies on the ICC issue. When it comes to a rules-based order these days, it all seemingly comes down to the geopolitical interests of individual superpowers. Follow Richard Javad Heydarian on X at @RichHeydarian
South China Morning Post
19-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Disinformation over Duterte's ICC arrest hits new low as ‘Putin', ‘Michelle Yeoh' weigh in
A wave of online falsehoods from supporters of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte has emerged following his arrest by the International Criminal Court ( ICC ), with analysts arguing the misinformation campaign could not only fail to help his case but also backfire by affecting judicial decisions on his interim release. Advertisement Even before the aircraft left Manila, Duterte loyalists began circulating fake stories, including claims that the Philippine Supreme Court had granted a temporary restraining order to halt his transfer. 02:23 Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested under ICC warrant Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested under ICC warrant Their fabrications grew bolder from there. When the former president appeared before ICC judges on March 14 for an initial hearing, his supporters falsely claimed the case had been dismissed, when in fact the judges swiftly set his first hearing date for September. Joel Butuyan, one of only five Filipino lawyers accredited to the ICC and president of the Centre for International Law, told This Week in Asia, 'I don't think it's going to affect the ongoing case in the ICC with respect to the merits. But it might potentially affect any application for interim release.' The fake reports have ranged from the outlandish to the malicious. One post purported to show Russian President Vladimir Putin refusing peace talks with Ukraine for as long as the ICC held Duterte. Another rumour claimed the Supreme Court accepted a petition with 16 million signatures demanding President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr 's resignation and was going to rule on it. One fake news article purported to show Russian President Vladimir Putin refusing peace talks with Ukraine for as long as Duterte was held by the ICC. Photo: Kremlin Pool/AP In a statement released on Monday, the high court condemned rumours about itself and Duterte being granted a temporary restraining order as 'acts of disinformation' and said they would be referred 'for appropriate action.'
