Emerging Issues in Philippine Impeachment and the Accountability Constitution

Abstract

The unique circumstances and timing of the impeachment of Vice-President Sara Duterte by the House of Representatives expose open issues in impeachment that are not immediately answerable by the sparse text of the 1987 Constitution: May the Senate proceed with her trial during its recess? May the proceedings cross over from the 19th to the 20th Congress? Would her resignation preclude the Senate from trying her for graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes? If trial pushes through, what standard of evidence should the Senate apply? And what is the extent of the power of the Supreme Court to resolve these issues?

This feature contextualizes these questions in the development of impeachment in the Philippines, congressional precedent and judicial doctrines, American practice, and the ethos of accountability, and documents an exchange of former officials and academics in the Emerging Issues on Impeachment forum co-organized by the University of the Philippines College of Law, the Justice George A. Malcolm Foundation, and the Philippine Law Journal in February 2025. It ends by proposing an ethical reading and a canon of accountability to guide the Senate and other decision-makers in resolving these and other constitutional questions.

Read the Full Article here.

Cite as Paolo S. Tamase, Feature, Emerging Issues in Philippine Impeachment and the Accountability Constitution, Phil. L.J. Forum (June 2, 2025).

About the Author
Assistant Professor, University of the Philippines (U.P.) College of Law; Assistant Secretary, Justice George A. Malcolm Memorial Foundation (Malcolm Foundation); Business Manager, Philippine Law Journal. LL.M., Yale Law School (2022); J.D., cum laude and valedictorian, U.P. (2016); and B.S. Business Economics, magna cum laude, U.P. (2012). Chair, Vol. 88, Philippine Law Journal.

The author designed, organized, and moderated the forum on Emerging Issues on Impeachment, Feb. 19, 2025, U.P. BGC Auditorium (co-organized by the Malcolm Foundation and the U.P. College of Law, in cooperation with the Journal).

I am grateful for the assistance of Jan Aurel Nikolai Castro, Jillian Rae Chua, Enrique Julian Espino and Roberto Daniel Mercado in organizing this forum. I also thank Jan Aurel Nikolai M. Castro, Chair, Vol. 98, Philippine Law Journal, for his research assistance in this piece.