[Opinion] The Constitutional Clock for Impeachment Has Run Out

Makati, Philippines - June 11, 2025 - Now that the Senate of the 19th Congress returned the Articles of Impeachment to the House, for the consideration of the House of the 20th Congress:

1. The House of the 20th Congress is under no obligation to recognize, respond to, or give effect to the rulings, resolutions, advisories, or opinions issued by the Senate of the 19th Congress. Each Congress is a distinct political body, created by a separate electoral process and composed of a newly constituted membership. It cannot be forced to carry forward the unfinished, discretionary business of the previous Congress. To do so would allow the expired mandate of one Congress to influence the decisions of another, binding newly elected representatives to political choices they neither made nor owned.

“The present, and not the past, decides whether the past is relevant.” (Larry Alexander & Frederick Schauer, On Extrajudicial Constitutional Interpretation, 110 Harv. L. Rev. 1359 (1997))

2. With its entire membership replaced every election, “the House of Representatives [...] is not a continuing body[.]” (Balag v. Senate, G.R. No. 234608, July 3, 2018)

3. That being the case, when the House of the 20th Congress considers the refiling of the impeachment complaint, it must treat the matter as if presented for the first time.

“At the end of the term of a Congress, all unfinished business are deemed terminated.” (Rules of the House of Representatives, Rule XI, § 80)

4. Any decision to refile constitutes a fresh initiation of an impeachment proceeding, requiring 1/3 vote of all members (1987 Phil. Const., art. XI, § 3(4))

5. “No impeachment proceedings shall be initiated against the same official more than once within a period of one year.” (1987 Phil. Const., art. XI, § 3(5))

6. The impeachment was initiated by the House of the 19th Congress on February 5, 2025. Therefore, the impeachment can only be initiated again or refiled by the House of the 20th Congress on February 5, 2026.

Russell Stanley Q. Geronimo is a lawyer, professor, author, and founder of a law firm. He has served in all three branches of government, at the Office of the President, the Supreme Court, and in both the Senate and House of Representatives. He teaches at the University of the Philippines College of Law, De La Salle University Tañada-Diokno School of Law, De La Salle University – Manila, Far Eastern University Institute of Law, San Sebastian College of Law, University of Makati School of Law, and Mandatory Continuing Legal Education (MCLE) for lawyers.