DAVAO City First District Councilor Atty. Luna Acosta confirmed that her office received a copy of the motion for reconsideration from the House of Representatives (HoR) and the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on August 4, 2025. The motion seeks to reverse the Supreme Court’s earlier decision declaring the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte unconstitutional.
Acosta, who chairs the Committee on Peace and Public Security at the 21st City Council and is one of the petitioners who filed the case before the SC to block the impeachment, said she reviewed the copy and that their legal team will carefully study it in the coming days.
"After we receive the order of the Supreme Court, we are waiting if they will ask us to comment or mag-diretso naba sa oral arguments (We're waiting for the Supreme Court’s next order, whether they will ask us to comment or proceed directly to oral arguments)," Acosta said during Pulong-Pulong sa Dabawenyos held at the Sangguniang Panlungsod on Tuesday, August 5.
She noted that, so far, they have not received any official directive from the SC apart from the copy of the motion itself. However, she assured the public that their legal counsel, Torreon and Partners Law Firm, is ready to respond to any issues raised.
The Supreme Court (SC) En Banc, during its session yesterday, August 5, 2025, required the vice president and petitioners Atty. Israelito P. Torreon and company to comment on the motion within 10 days, without extension.
Earlier, the House of Representatives appealed to the Supreme Court to revisit and amend its decision. In a 70-page motion, the House emphasized that it should retain its exclusive constitutional duty to initiate and prosecute impeachment cases.
House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez clarified that the move was not an act of defiance, but a fulfillment of duty.
"We filed this Motion for Reconsideration not to provoke, but to protect. Not to assert supremacy, but to restore balance,” he said. “Because if impeachments can be blocked by misunderstood facts, or rules made after the fact, then accountability is not upheld: It is denied.”
To recall, on July 25, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled the Articles of Impeachment against VP Duterte unconstitutional, with 13 justices voting in favor of the decision. The Court cited violations of the right to due process under the Bill of Rights and Article XI, Section 3(5) of the Constitution, which states: "No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within one year." RGP WITH REPORTS FROM PNA