By Mikhail Flores
MANILA (Reuters) -Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte scored a big legal win on Friday when the Supreme Court struck down an impeachment complaint against her, ruling that it was unconstitutional.
The lower house of Congress had impeached Duterte in February, accusing her of misusing public funds, amassing unusual wealth, and threatening to kill Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, the First Lady, and the House Speaker.
The court said it was not absolving Duterte of the charges, but the ruling may nevertheless be a huge boost for her political ambitions.
She is widely seen as a strong contender for the 2028 presidency, which Marcos cannot contest due to a single-term limit for Philippine presidents, but an impeachment trial conviction would have seen her banned from office for life.
Duterte has said the move to impeach her, which came amid a bitter feud with Marcos, was politically motivated.
"This unanimous decision has once again upheld the rule of law and reinforced the constitutional limits against abuse of the impeachment process," Duterte's lawyers said in a statement.
Duterte is the daughter of firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is now in the custody of the International Criminal Court over his bloody war on drugs. He has denied wrongdoing.
In a unanimous decision, the country's top court agreed with Duterte's contention that Congress violated a constitutional safeguard against more than one impeachment proceeding against the same official within a year.
More than 200 members of the lower house had endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint to the Senate, having not acted on the first three filings.
"The articles of impeachment, which were the fourth complaint, violated the one-year period ban because there were three complaints that came ahead of it," Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting told a media briefing.
As a result, the Senate then did not have the authority to convene an impeachment tribunal, the court added.
Marcos has distanced himself from the proceedings against his estranged Vice President, saying the government's executive branch cannot intervene in the matter.
His office said on Friday that the court's decision must be respected.
A spokesperson for the Senate said the upper chamber was duty-bound to respect the court's ruling.
There was no immediate comment from members of the House prosecution panel, but a spokesperson for the lower house said that while it respects the court, "its constitutional duty to uphold truth and accountability does not end here."
The Supreme Court said a fresh complaint could be filed against Duterte once the ban expires.
"We remain prepared to address the allegations at the proper time and before the appropriate forum," Duterte's lawyers said.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores and Karen Lema. Editing by John Mair, Hugh Lawson and Mark Potter)
