House to consolidate VP impeach raps before transmittal

MANILA, Philippines — The justice committee of the House of Representatives will consolidate the two impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Duterte before it sends its report to the plenary, a step before the chamber sends it to the Senate for impeachment trial.

The suits filed by complainants Fr. Joel Saballa and lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera will thus be integrated into one, for purposes of brevity and for comprising the necessary Articles of Impeachment that will eventually be sent to the Upper Chamber for full-blown trial.

Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima moved for the consolidation of the two complaints.

“We can have one Articles of Impeachment only before the committee and we can transmit one Articles of Impeachment only as well. We can transmit only one to the plenary,” panel chairperson and Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville Luistro told her colleagues yesterday.

Earlier, 53 justice committee members voted unanimously in both Saballa and Cabrera complaints that they have established probable cause and have therefore reason to believe Duterte should undergo trial for alleged unexplained wealth, among many others.

The Luistro panel will convene again on May 4 – when Congress resumes sessions after the Holy Week break – to discuss the committee report and resolution before they send it to the plenary for the approval of the entire 318 members of the House.

The plenary needs at least 106 votes, or one-third of the 318-member House, to send it to the Senate for trial.

House may have numbers to impeach

Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno believes the House of Representatives has the numbers to impeach Vice President Duterte anew, but is mum when asked if the charges are strong enough to convict her in the Senate.

“From where I stand, and looking at how the votes came out in the Committee on Justice, I do think we’ll get the numbers, especially given the evidence that came out during the hearings of the Committee on Justice,” Diokno told One News’ “Storycon.”

“I think that the clincher there really was the records from the Anti-Money Laundering Council as well as the statements of assets, liabilities and net worth of the Vice President,” he added.

All 318 House members will likely vote on May 11 on whether to approve or reject the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.

Duterte was already impeached the first time on Feb. 5, 2025, but the Supreme Court struck down the Articles of Impeachment for violating the Vice President’s constitutional rights.

But when asked if the House, which, in the event of an impeachment, would serve as prosecutors, could muster the necessary 16 votes to remove Duterte from office and bar her from running public office ever again, Diokno said it’s still too early to tell.

'Ruling unanimous'

The House committee on justice is resolute and prepared to defend its unanimous finding of probable cause against Vice President Duterte, Luistro said yesterday.

“Now I can officially say that the Justice Committee has a stand, and the stand is for the probable cause. From this day forward, our mandate should be able to defend the determination of probable cause by the Justice Committee,” Luistro said over GMA 7’s “Unang Hirit.”

“And if this will be affirmed by the plenary, our mandate will continue and that is to prosecute the Vice President until her conviction in the trial by the Senate,” Luistro added.

She said that during the clarificatory hearings, the committee had taken care to remain impartial because it was acting in a manner similar to a preliminary investigation.

Luistro also rejected claims that outside pressure was being exerted on lawmakers’ staff to line up support for the impeachment process, saying that she herself had not encountered anything of the sort.

‘Tax records cannot be hidden forever’

Vice President Duterte and her husband, Atty. Manases Carpio, cannot hide their income tax returns behind legal technicalities forever, Manila Rep. Joel Chua said yesterday.

Chua said the Committee on Justice’s decision to keep the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) box of tax records sealed was a matter of caution – not a concession that the committee lacked the right to open it.

In fact, he said, many members believe the committee has every right to examine the contents, given that the House constitutionally holds the exclusive power to initiate impeachment. — Jose Rodel Clapano, Mark Ernest Villeza, Evelyn Macairan, EJ Macababbad