MANILA: The Philippines's oldest and most authoritative voice on constitutional law has urged the Senate to proceed with the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, reminding senators that the accountability of public officials should not be thwarted by procedural inventions or partisan manoeuvring.

Philippine senators were sworn in as jurors on Tuesday in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, who faces a lifetime political ban if convicted of high crimes and betraying the public trust.

The deliberation process on whether to impeach the vice-president has been thrown back to the Lower House for consideration Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has won round one of her impeachment battle after her allies in the Senate tossed back the bid to the Lower House on claims it was "defective" and "unconstitutional".