MANILA — Senate Minority Leader Tito Sotto expressed deep frustration over the Senate’s decision to archive the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte on August 6, following a motion led by Senator Rodante Marcoleta.

Sotto strongly opposed Marcoleta’s original motion to dismiss the complaint, arguing that the Supreme Court’s ruling — which declared the impeachment unconstitutional — was not yet final, as a Motion for Reconsideration had been filed by the House of Representatives just days earlier.

“Mr. President, the Supreme Court decision is now pending appeal. It is prudent to wait for the results rather than prematurely archiving, if not dismissing, because I know for a fact once it is archived, it is dead,” Sotto said during the session.

He then moved to table Marcoleta’s motion, a procedural step that would have delayed any action until the Supreme Court resolved the appeal. However, the Senate rejected Sotto’s motion in a 19–4–1 vote, with only Senators Risa Hontiveros, Bam Aquino, and Kiko Pangilinan joining him in support. Senator Ping Lacson, a member of the minority, abstained from the vote.

Sotto emphasized that the Senate had already convened as an impeachment court during the 19th Congress, and that dismissing the complaint outright would be inconsistent with the process it had already begun. He warned that prematurely archiving the case could undermine future impeachment processes if the Supreme Court were to reverse its decision.

“I will have to register a ‘yes’ vote. I know it will be a vote in the minority, but I have always voted in the minority on many issues in the Senate since 1992 up to the present. I always prayed I was wrong — unfortunately, I was always right,” he declared.

Sotto’s stance was echoed by other minority senators, who argued that waiting for the Supreme Court’s final ruling was not defiance, but a respectful and cautious approach to a matter of national significance.

📷 Senate of the Philippines