Again, Sara skips chance at House to face accuser
Vice President Sara Duterte was a no-show on Tuesday as the justice committee of the House of Representatives resumed its hearing on the impeachment complaints filed against her.
The panel, which has scheduled two more hearings this month to assess evidence and potential witnesses, still asked for the record whether Duterte was present to give her a chance to comment on the documents and the testimonies so far presented.
Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, the justice committee chair, said “the intention of calling her (Duterte) is to extend the continuing opportunity to present her evidence including counterevidence” to the testimonies provided by the resource persons.
Luistro, in her opening speech, took note of the three petitions filed before the Supreme Court seeking to stop the impeachment proceedings—first from the lawyers of jailed televangelist and Duterte ally Apollo Quiboloy, second from the Vice President herself, and third from a group of private citizens.
She also cited a petition from Duterte’s husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, asking a Quezon City court to stop the panel from issuing a subpoena on his tax records.
People need ‘answers’
“Esteemed colleagues, beloved countrymen, there are a total of four petitions seeking to stop these hearings. As we always say, public office is a public trust; but indeed, it’s easier said than done. But despite the length of these four petitions, let me tell you, not one answered the important accusations against the Vice President,” she said.
“They only discussed technicalities. The people are looking for answers, not pieces of paper,” she said in Filipino.
The justice committee will continue the hearings on April 22 and April 29.
In an interview at the Batasang Pambansa earlier on Tuesday, lawyer Michael Poa, spokesperson for Duterte’s defense team, said they informed the committee as early as Monday that the Vice President would skip the proceedings.
But Poa said he was attending the hearing to comply with a subpoena from the committee on justice regarding his role as undersecretary of the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s stint as secretary.
“We just follow the process, these are compulsory process so nandito ako ngayon (I’m here),” he said.
‘Unbelievable, illogical’
Poa, who also served as Duterte’s chief of staff and spokesperson at DepEd, was summoned to Tuesday’s hearing to address questions related to the disbursement of the agency’s confidential funds and his coordination with the Commission on Audit regarding the matter.
Meanwhile, another lawyer representing Duterte on Tuesday belittled the impact made by the appearance of Ramil Madriaga, whose December 2025 affidavit against the Vice President has been cited in one of the impeachment complaints.
Madriaga, who is currently a detainee on trial for kidnapping, had claimed serving as an organizer of Duterte’s vice presidential campaign in the 2022 elections before becoming her “bagman” who delivered millions of pesos in cash drawn from her confidential funds.
For lawyer Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., Madriaga’s statements made before the House committee remained “unbelievable and illogical.”
The defense team would be “happy” to refute each claim “point by point with evidence,” said Panelo, who is also the lawyer for the perjury complaint that the Vice President filed against Madriaga last month.
“I have repeatedly said that making Madriaga testify would just reveal his lack of credibility and expose his lies,” Panelo said in a statement.
“He (Madriaga) has now succeeded in doing exactly that even before uttering a single word under oath in the House justice committee.”
Roque mentioned
At one point during the proceedings, Madriaga broke into tears while reading his supplemental affidavit.
He said he felt “betrayed” by the Vice President when she “didn’t lift a finger” to stop the kidnapping charges he is now facing.
According to Madriaga, Harry Roque, a former spokesperson for then President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father, was behind the filing of the “unfounded” criminal case.
Roque, Madriaga said, went after him because he tried to expose the former’s “land-grabbing activities” in connection with a construction of a Pogo (Philippine offshore gaming operator) hub in Mariveles, Bataan.
He was only trying to help local farmers who “fell victim” to the plans of Roque and his Pogo partners, Madriaga added.
But Panelo said Madriaga merely brought up “irrelevant and immaterial matters” before the committee, which the Vice President’s perjury complaint had already debunked.
