Lawmakers from the Makabayan Bloc expressed dismay after the House Justice Committee set aside their impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing the one-year bar rule.
ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Jane Elago, and Kabataan Rep. Atty. Renee Louise Co maintained that their February 2 filing did not violate constitutional provisions or House rules.
They argued that the reckoning date used by the committee, February 6, was based on a Supreme Court decision that had been modified in January 2026.
According to the progressive solons, the high court’s latest ruling redefined “session days” as calendar days and clarified that the one-year bar took effect when the House failed to include three impeachment complaints in the order of business within 10 session days. By this interpretation, they said, the reckoning date should be January 15, 2026.
Beyond procedural issues, the lawmakers accused powerful institutions of shielding Duterte from accountability.
They pointed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the Senate, and the Supreme Court as having blocked the impeachment process last year, leaving complainants to navigate what they described as a “legal maze.”
“The one-year bar, as it is now being wielded, is double-edged and threatens to become yet another instrument by which those in power protect one another,” the bloc said in its statement.
They urged the House of Representatives to assert its constitutional authority and independence, warning against complicity in what they called a “continuing culture of impunity.”
The Makabayan Bloc stressed that Duterte faces “grave charges” affecting public trust and national security, insisting that these must be heard.
“We will remain vigilant, active, and uncompromising throughout this entire process. The Makabayan Bloc did not file this complaint to play procedural games. We filed it because the people demand accountability, and we will pursue that accountability with every means available to us,” they concluded. (JCNE)
