Panel finds ‘probable cause’ to impeach Sara
In a unanimous vote, the House justice committee on Wednesday declared the existence of probable cause in the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, moving them closer to a plenary vote and possibly a Senate trial that can derail her declared intention to seek the presidency in 2028.
Fifty-three members of the committee, including 14 ex oficio members, agreed that the allegations of corruption and violations of the Constitution leveled against Duterte were backed by sufficient evidence, based on documents and testimonies presented in a series of hearings over the past three weeks.
“We already have enough smoke to prove there’s fire,” Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., who endorsed one of the complaints, told the panel. “Strong probable cause exists to impeach Sara Duterte.”
Though she had formed a team of defense lawyers, the Vice President did not attend any of the hearings, calling them a “fishing expedition” and questioning their legitimacy at the Supreme Court.
In a statement issued shortly after the vote, her lawyers said the panel’s decision was “not unexpected, given the direction of the proceedings that had taken.”
“Instead of confining itself to the verified complaints and their attachments, the process expanded into matters that properly belong to a full trial,” they added.
The committee is expected to produce a report on the proceedings and formulate the articles of impeachment, which may be presented to the plenary as early as next week, according to the panel’s chair, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro.
“The articles of impeachment must be clear, complete and consistent,” Senior Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima said. “It will be of great help for a better and more efficient process if there is a clear, unified and comprehensive presentation of the charges and findings.”
Testimony from witnesses and financial records presented since early April have placed Duterte under intense scrutiny. Among them are sworn statements from a former campaign supporter who claimed that he served as her “bagman” who delivered large sums of cash to various recipients as her way of returning favors, with the money allegedly drawn from her confidential funds.
The justice committee also received reports from the Commission on Audit that red-flagged the way she had spent the funds as Vice President and as education secretary, the concurrent position she held from 2022 to 2024.
During last week’s hearing, the committee was shown a report of bank transactions showing billions of pesos flowing through her accounts that did not match her annual declared wealth.
‘One-two punch’
The three-week “clarificatory hearings” on the complaints were like a “one-two punch combination” that delivered a stunning blow to Duterte, said Amando Ligutan, a lawyer for one of the civil society groups that filed the complaints.
“We are just starting,” Ligutan told reporters after Wednesday’s vote. “We’re still in the early rounds, but we’ve already scored several knockouts. We expect to win this fight.”
The impeachment complaints accuse Duterte of graft, bribery, culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
The complaints cited specific allegations that Duterte misused about P612 million in confidential funds that were granted to the Office of the Vice President and to the Department of Education during her two-year stint as its secretary.
She is also accused of amassing unexplained wealth while in office, attempting to destabilize the government, and plotting the assassination of President Marcos, first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and then Speaker Martin Romualdez.
At Wednesday’s hearing, the National Bureau of Investigation said that comments made by Duterte during an online news conference in 2024 to have the Marcoses and Romualdez killed—if she herself was assassinated—posed a threat to national security.
“There is a clear pattern of misuse and abuse of confidential funds by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education,” De Lima said. “What we are dealing with is not a mere technical or accounting error.”
As to the Vice President’s wealth, “our question is simple: is [it] aligned with, or proportionate to, her salary and other legitimate sources of income?” De Lima added.
But compared to the other charges, De Lima said, the Vice President’s threat to have the first couple and the former House leader killed may be considered the “gravest” ground for impeachment since it showed her propensity for violence.
“We witnessed not only a threat to the President’s life, but also the horror our nation faces under yet another Duterte,” she said, adding:
“There is now a clear, connected and alarming pattern. If the standard is probable cause, this goes beyond sufficient—it is more than enough.”
Opponents have been specially concerned over Duterte’s alleged crimes after she declared her intention to seek the presidency in 2028.
Ignoring the committee’s invitation to appear, she has denied the allegations in media statements and social media posts, calling them “politically motivated” attacks following the collapse of her alliance with Mr. Marcos.
She has also dismissed the accusations as issues merely “recycled” from her first impeachment by the House last year, which she survived thanks to a Supreme Court ruling that voided the proceedings on technicalities.
Luistro, the committee chair, blasted the Vice President on Wednesday for failing to appear in six televised hearings and for asking the Supreme Court to again stop the impeachment inquiry.
“If there is nothing to hide, there is no reason to hide, there is no reason to obstruct,” Luistro said at the start of the proceedings. “The only people who fear the disclosures of these transactions are those with dirty secrets.”
The articles of impeachment must be endorsed by at least a third of the House, or 106 of its members, to advance to the Senate for trial.
A two-thirds vote of the Senate impeachment court is required for a conviction, which would remove Duterte from office and bar her permanently from any future government position.
“The time has come to bring this case to the Senate,” Abante said. “The time has come for justice.” —WITH A REPORT FROM AP
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