Convened as an impeachment court Tuesday night, the Senate voted to toss back the complaint against impeached Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives for it to certify that it’s not constitutionally infirm.

The senator-judges voted 18–5 to approve Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano’s motion to remand the complaint to the House so the lower chamber would issue a certification that it did not violate the constitutional provision banning the filing of more than one complaint against an impeachable official within one year.

Those who opposed the motion were Senators Aquilino Pimentel III, Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe, Sherwin Gatchalian and Nancy Binay.

Pimentel warned of the motion’s “dangerous language” that made it susceptible to “a lot of interpretations,” while Hontiveros called it “functional dismissal.” 

Senate President Francis Escudero, the court’s presiding officer, said he agreed with Cayetano’s stand that remanding the articles of impeachment to the House is not tantamount to dismissal.

“To the doubters in and out of this hall, the intention of the impeachment court is clear. There’s no intention to dismiss this complaint; the intent is to give the prosecutors [time] to respond to certain questions without wasting the time of the court, and without judging the matter,’’ Escudero said.

In his motion, Cayetano also sought an explanation from the House on the circumstances of the filing of the first three impeachment complaints, and requested the House in the next 20th Congress to communicate to the Senate that it is willing and ready to pursue the impeachment case against the Vice President.

Cayetano’s motion stemmed from Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s personal privilege speech seeking the dismissal of the impeachment complaint, which led to a protracted debate among the senators. Dela Rosa sought to deliver his speech even before the senators were sworn as judges, but Escudero ruled against it.  

Before adjourning, Escudero ordered the issuance of the writ of summons for the Vice President directing her to appear before the court, and file her answer to the articles within 10 days. The prosecutors were ordered to respond to her communication five days later.

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