House panel finds probable cause to impeach VP Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — The House justice committee voted unanimously Wednesday, April 29, to find probable cause to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, clearing the way for a full House vote that could make her the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice.

All 53 members present approved two separate motions declaring probable cause — one for the Saballa complaint filed by a group of priests and lawyers, and another for the Cabrera complaint filed by lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera. Neither motion drew a single objection.  

Visibly elated lawmakers broke into applause when committee chair Rep. Jinky Luistro (Batangas, 2nd District) suspended the hearing.

Vice President Sara Duterte did not attend the proceedings for a fourth consecutive time. Her legal team has said she will respond to the allegations only if a Senate trial is convened.  

The panel also voted to consolidate the two complaints into a single set of articles of impeachment, after Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal) argued it would give Congress "a solid and coherent basis" to decide.

The impeachment complaint now moves to the House plenary, which is set to vote on the articles on May 4. A one-third vote — 106 of 318 members — would send Duterte to trial in the Senate.

The committee held four hearings over five weeks, examining allegations of misuse of more than P600 million in confidential funds, unexplained wealth tied to billions in flagged bank transactions, and threats to have the president assassinated.

The hearing on Wednesday, April 29, focused on Duterte's explosive 2024 remarks where she said she had contracted a hitman to kill the president and his family should she be killed.  

NBI Director Melvin Matibag testified before the panel that investigators found basis for two criminal charges — grave threats and inciting to sedition — and that the bureau had filed a complaint with the Department of Justice. 

He said over the weekend that Duterte's November 2024 threat to have Marcos killed was not a "metaphor nor a hyperbole" and that she had spoken to someone for that purpose.

Meanwhile, it was the third hearing or the April 22 hearing that honed in on Duterte's wealth declarations and bank transactions. The Anti-Money Laundering Council told the committee that accounts tied to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases Carpio, had been flagged for P6.77 billion in suspicious and covered transactions from 2006 to 2025 — against a declared net worth of P88.4 million. 

Carpio filed criminal complaints earlier this week against the BSP governor, the AMLC head, and four lawmakers over the disclosure but did not challenge the figures. 

Earlier Wednesday, the committee voted 38-6 not to open a sealed Bureau of Internal Revenue box containing the couple's tax returns. 

Duterte's defense team called the finding "not unexpected" but maintained the committee had overstepped.

"Instead of confining itself to the verified complaints and their attachments, the process expanded into matters that properly belong to a full trial," her camp said in a statement.