MANILA, Philippines — Progressive groups are gearing up for protest movements outside the Senate on Wednesday, after the chamber remanded the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House of Representatives.

In a statement on Tuesday night, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) called the Senate “spineless” after senator-judges voted 18-5 to send back the articles to the House, to allegedly clear some technical issues surrounding it.

According to Bayan, what the Senate did is a “shameless abdication of their constitutional mandate.”

“What the Senate did tonight is unacceptable. After dribbling the ball for four months, the Senate sought to pass the ball back to the Lower House. It is a shameless abdication of their constitutional mandate that will not be soon forgotten. Those in power have again chosen to uphold impunity and set aside accountability,” Bayan president Renato Reyes Jr. said.

“Instead of a trial, we got legal gymnastics that smack of ‘palusot’ after ‘palusot.’ The spineless and weak move to remand the articles of impeachment to the House deserves the strongest condemnation by the people. Tomorrow we march in protest in front of the Senate. Join us to express our utmost indignation over this grand betrayal,” he added.

After the Senate convened as an impeachment court on Tuesday evening, 18 senator-judges voted in favor of the motion introduced by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano.

Under the motion, the Senate remands the articles to the House to ensure that the prohibition on filing more than one impeachment complaint was not violated by the House.

The motion specified that the return of the articles does not amount to a dismissal or termination of the case.

However, Bayan noted that this move from the Senate only undid the achievements of the people and the House.

“They want us to be consoled by the qualifier that the impeachment has not been dismissed but in reality, what they did was to undo what the Lower House and the people have achieved — the transmittal of the articles of impeachment,” Reyes said.

Article XI, Section 3(5) of the 1987 Constitution states that only one impeachment proceeding should be filed in a year.

However, members of the House prosecution panel noted as early as February 20 that the Supreme Court (SC) had already decided in Francisco v. House of Representatives that the one-year prohibition on the filing of new impeachment complaints will start only after the charges are forwarded to the House committee on justice.

This is a matter that Senate President Francis Escudero acknowledged during his speech at the Senate plenary.

He said that under the Constitution, the House has to respond to the filing of an impeachment complaint within a prescribed period of time — putting the complaint in the calendar and sending it to the committee on justice.

“Why is it important? Because the Supreme Court’s decision in the Francisco case states that the one-year ban starts with the filing of the second, third, fourth impeachment complaint,” he added.

However, none of the three impeachment complaints filed in December 2024 left the Office of House Secretary General Reginald Velasco — which means they were not forwarded to Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.

Under House rules, the Speaker is required to act on the impeachment complaints and forward it to the committee on rules within 10 session days after receipt of the complaints, and then it will be referred to the committee on justice “within three session days thereafter.”

This means none of the complaints reached the committee on justice, as the fourth impeachment complaint was filed and signed by 215 lawmakers — therefore initiating a so-called fast-track version supported by Article XI of the Constitution.

The fourth complaint was immediately sent to the Senate as the 1987 Constitution states in Article XI, Section 3(4) that a verified complaint filed by one-thirds of the House — or 102 of 306 lawmakers — would “constitute the Articles of Impeachment, and trial by the Senate shall forthwith proceed.”