Vice President Sara Duterte’s defense team on Tuesday said they already submitted to the Supreme Court their comment on the motion for reconsideration filed by the House of Representatives on her impeachment.
Michael Poa, among Duterte’s legal counsels, said their camp filed it on Monday. August 18.
Poa said the camp would not be providing a copy of the document.
“In deference to the sub judice rule and out of respect for the judicial process, we will not be granting media interviews or issuing further statements at this time,” Poa told reporters.
The Supreme Court in July blocked the Senate impeachment trial of Duterte, saying it violated a constitutional provision against multiple impeachment proceedings within a single year.
Last Aug. 4, the House filed the motion for reconsideration on the High Court’s decision that nullified the articles of impeachment against Duterte.
In its motion for reconsideration, the lower chamber pointed out supposed “factual errors” in the Supreme Court’s decision, and argued that “the fourth impeachment complaint could not have been barred by the archival, termination, or dismissal of the first three impeachment complaints, because while the latter were undergoing the process of inclusion and referral the fourth impeachment complaint was completed.”
The House also denied that Duterte’s right to due process was violated.
The Senate earlier this month voted to archive Duterte’s impeachment case.
