In a significant legal victory that will undoubtedly reshape the nation’s tumultuous political landscape, the Philippine Supreme Court has blocked the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, ruling that the bid violated constitutional provisions. The unanimous decision, announced Friday, July 25, 2025, effectively halts the scheduled impeachment trial in the Senate and provides a crucial reprieve for the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
The high court’s ruling centered on a key technicality: the “one-year rule” enshrined in the Philippine Constitution. This provision stipulates that impeachment proceedings cannot be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year. Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting explained that while the House of Representatives had transmitted one impeachment complaint to the Senate, at least four separate complaints were filed against Vice President Duterte between December 2024 and February 2025.
“The Supreme Court has ruled that the House impeachment complaint versus VP Sara Duterte is barred by the one-year rule and that due process or fairness applies in all stages of the impeachment process,” Ting stated during a press conference. She emphasized that the Court’s duty was to ensure “that politics are framed within the rule of just law,” and that the decision does not pass judgment on the array of criminal allegations against the Vice President.
The impeachment case, which had been gaining momentum and was set for a Senate trial as early as next week, was spearheaded by a coalition of lawmakers, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez. The complaints leveled against Vice President Duterte were extensive, encompassing accusations of:
- Threatening President Marcos Jr. and his family: A highly controversial comment made during a November 2024 news conference where she said she would have Marcos and his family killed if she herself were assassinated, a statement she later clarified as a concern for her own safety.
- Large-scale corruption and misuse of public funds: Specifically, allegations surrounding her handling of confidential funds, which led to her resignation as Education Secretary from Marcos’s cabinet in June.
- Sedition and terrorism.
- Failing to support government efforts against China’s aggression in the South China Sea.
- Allegedly backing her father’s brutal crackdowns against illegal drugs in their southern home city, leading to extrajudicial killings.
Vice President Duterte, who ran as Marcos’s running mate in 2022 on a platform of unity, has consistently denied all wrongdoing, asserting that the impeachment attempts were politically motivated. Her lawyers welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision, stating that it “upheld the rule of law and reinforced the constitutional limits against abuse of the impeachment process.”
The ruling represents a significant blow to the political opponents of Vice President Duterte, particularly those within the Marcos administration with whom she has had a deepening feud. While the Supreme Court’s decision is immediately executory, it does not absolve Duterte of the charges, and a new impeachment complaint could potentially be filed after February 6, 2026, when the one-year bar expires.
For now, however, the Philippine Supreme Court’s intervention has provided Sara Duterte with a crucial shield, allowing her to avoid a politically charged public trial and granting her time to regroup and strategize for her widely anticipated presidential bid in 2028, when President Marcos’s single six-year term ends. The political rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte families, which has defined much of the current administration, continues to play out, with the judiciary now having weighed in on its highly complex legal and political dynamics.