THE House of Representatives is set for a historic vote on Monday, May 11, to affirm the House Committee on Justice report finding probable cause in the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, following weeks of hearings and the presentation of documentary evidence, paving the way for the transmittal of the four Articles of Impeachment to the Senate impeachment court.
The plenary proceedings will tackle the report and resolution approved by the House Committee on Justice after weeks of hearings into allegations involving confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, and threats against top government officials.
Justice panel chairperson and Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro said the committee is prepared to defend before the plenary the findings, evidence, and proceedings that led to the unanimous approval of the impeachment report.
“We are anticipating that this coming Monday, we will be given the opportunity to defend the committee report, to defend the findings of probable cause, to defend the Articles of Impeachment,” Luistro said.
The committee earlier voted unanimously, 53-0, to find probable cause to impeach Duterte and later overwhelmingly approved, 55-0, the committee report and resolution setting forth the Articles of Impeachment for plenary deliberations.
Luistro said lawmakers could expect intense debates on both the panel’s findings and the conduct of the proceedings, but stressed that the Justice committee was ready to answer questions from House members.
She said she would personally deliver the sponsorship speech summarizing the proceedings, the consolidated Articles of Impeachment, and the evidence presented before the panel.
Under the Constitution, at least one-third of all House members — or 106 votes out of the 318-member chamber — would be enough to approve the Articles of Impeachment and immediately transmit them to the Senate for trial.
Luistro said the voting would be done through nominal voting, with each House member individually called to publicly cast a yes or no vote.
She also expressed hope that the plenary would reflect the same unity shown by the justice panel during the impeachment proceedings.
Luistro said the plenary discussions would center on the four consolidated Articles of Impeachment adopted by the Justice panel after combining similar allegations from the Saballa and Cabrera impeachment complaints.
The first article involves the alleged misuse and irregular disbursement of confidential funds under both the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as Education secretary.
During the hearings, the justice panel examined the alleged questionable utilization of P612.5 million in confidential funds — P500 million under the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million under the Department of Education.
Lawmakers also tackled allegations that P125 million in confidential funds released to the Office of the Vice President in late 2022 had been consumed in less than 24 hours, based on testimony from self-confessed Duterte “bagman” Ramil Madriaga.
The second article focuses on allegations of unexplained wealth and discrepancies involving Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) and bank transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).
During the proceedings, the Justice panel reviewed AMLC findings showing 663 covered and suspicious transactions totaling about P6.77 billion allegedly linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio.
The AMLC findings reportedly included about P3.77 billion in transactions linked to Duterte and roughly P2.99 billion linked to Carpio.
The hearings also examined Duterte’s SALNs, which reflected declared net worth increasing from P7.25 million in 2007 to P88.51 million in 2024.
Last Monday, Atty. Peter Paul Danao, speaking for the camp of Carpio, said that the Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) clarified the reported “P2 billion” amount was in fact “P2 million,” supposedly caused by a “system glitch.”
The third article concerns allegations of bribery tied to cash envelopes reportedly distributed to DepEd officials during Duterte’s time as education secretary.
Lawmakers received testimony and records involving alleged P50,000 cash envelopes labeled “HOPE,” which were allegedly handed to officials connected to procurement functions within the department.
The fourth article centers on Duterte’s controversial remarks in November 2024 in which she publicly stated that she had arranged for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez to be killed should anything happen to her.
The Justice panel examined evidence and testimony related to the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) authentication of the video and the subsequent criminal investigation triggered by Duterte’s statements.