Ridon urges VP Duterte's lawyers to ‘read SC decision again’

Bicol Saro party-list Representative Terry Ridon publicly urged Vice President Sara Duterte's legal team to re-examine the Supreme Court's ruling on her impeachment, arguing they misunderstood the decision's implications. Ridon emphasized that the Supreme Court's decision focused on procedural technicalities rather than substantive issues, and crucially, the ruling did not exonerate Duterte. He stressed that the Court's decision 'did not dismiss the 2025 Duterte impeachment on substantive grounds; it was only concerned with procedural aspects.' Duterte's lawyers had claimed the impeachment allegations were recycled from a 2025 case that the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional. However, Ridon countered that this mischaracterization ignored the Court's explicit statement that its ruling did not evaluate the substantive merits of the case. Additionally, Ridon criticized Duterte's legal response for failing to directly address the specific allegations in the two current impeachment complaints. He noted that her 'Answer Ad Cautelam does not directly confront the claims made in the two impeachment complaints. Rather than responding to the accusations, it attempts to contest the impeachment process itself.' He also clarified that Duterte has not been denied due process, as she was given the opportunity to respond to the complaints. The controversy stems from the Supreme Court's ruling that earlier impeachment proceedings were unconstitutional since complaints filed earlier were already deemed initiated, but this procedural ruling did not address the substance of the allegations against the Vice President.

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