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.

A lawmaker has asked the Senate as to what would be the basis of Vice President Sara Duterte’s response to its summons, when the articles of impeachment were sent back to the House of Representatives.

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".