The Council for People’s Development and Governance (CPDG) expresses deep concern over the Supreme Court’s decision declaring the impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte (VP Duterte) as unconstitutional.
“The Supreme Court’s decision is a grave blow to democratic accountability and a textbook case of elite impunity,” says Liza Maza, CPDG Spokesperson and member of its Board of Trustees.
The Court said the complaint violated the constitutional rule that an impeachment proceeding may only be initiated once per year – despite strong arguments that the three previous impeachment complaints do not count as a formal impeachment process being initiated. Legal experts and civil society warn that this interpretation sets a dangerous precedent: that any official facing credible threats of impeachment can now be protected by a weak, premature filing meant solely to trigger the one-year ban. Instead of upholding accountability, the ruling opens the door to procedural manipulation.
The ruling, made by justices largely appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte, confirms long-standing concerns about the politicization of the judiciary and the weaponization of legal interpretations to protect entrenched political dynasties and powerful elites.
This decision follows a series of political maneuvers that combined to shield VP Duterte. As early as June 2025, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero was already under fire for delaying deliberations on the impeachment articles by House lawmakers, despite broad public interest and clear grounds cited in the complaint. Among others, the complaint included VP Duterte’s unauthorized use of hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential and intelligence funds as vice-president and concurrently education secretary.
“Escudero’s insistence that there was ‘no delay’ rings hollow, especially given how the timing paved the way for a judicial intervention that halted the impeachment process entirely,” adds Maza. “Such calculated stalling tactics confirm the growing perception that powerful actors across the executive, legislative, and judicial branches actively hinder mechanisms of accountability.”
“For CPDG and its member organizations, this is a watershed moment that exposes the fragility of democratic institutions under elite capture. VP Duterte must still answer to the people for serious allegations which also include red-tagging of education workers and the militarization of schools,” said Maza.
The government must also recognize that it was widespread public pressure that pushed the impeachment forward in the first place. The public clamor forced lawmakers to act despite clear resistance from Malacañang and Congress. CPDG joins civil society in affirming that accountability is not a favor granted by those in power – it is a fundamental right democratic that the people must assert and uphold.
As watchdogs like IBON Foundation have pointed out, democracy is hollow when public officials can evade scrutiny not through innocence but through influence.
“CPDG calls on civil society to resist this normalization of impunity. We urge the public to continue demanding truth, transparency, and justice. When public funds are misused and institutions are hijacked, silence is not neutrality – it is complicity,” ends Maza.