MANILA, Philippines — The Supreme Court (SC) has affirmed its ruling that barred the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte last year. 

The High Court, in a decision announced on Thursday, January 29, denied the motion for reconsideration that sought to overturn the SC decision that voided the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.

SC spokesperson Camille Sue Mae Ting said the SC en banc unanimously voted to uphold that the fourth impeachment complaint against the Vice President was already covered by the one-year bar rule.

On July 25, 2025, the SC barred the impeachment proceedings against Duterte on the grounds of due process. Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen penned the 2025 ruling. 

The SC said the complaints against the Vice President were barred by the one-year bar rule on impeachment. This rule, found in the 1987 Constitution, states that “impeachment proceedings [cannot] be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.”

In total, Duterte faced four impeachment complaints before the House of Representatives. The first three did not materialize, and the Vice President was impeached on the fourth complaint pushed by a resolution signed by the necessary one third of the House members.

The Vice President had argued before the SC that by not taking action on the first three complaints, the House “deliberately [froze] the entire initiation and impeachment process,” rendering the one-year bar rule of the Constitution. 

The High Court favored this argument in 2025, ruling that the inaction on the first three complaints already triggered the one-year bar rule. 

With the SC ruling, a full-blown impeachment trial in the Senate ailed to push through. The Senate, acting as the impeachment court, also moved to archive the complaint against the Vice President. 

The House appealed the SC decision before the High Court through a motion for reconsideration in August. — Rappler.com