By Lane Afable, News Editor
The plenary of the House of Representatives (HOR) will vote today, Monday, either to affirm or reject the report of the Committee on Justice containing a favorable 55-0 unanimous vote on probable cause for all four Articles of Impeachment in two complaints filed against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte.
The upcoming voting will determine either the two impeachment complaint (lately were merged as one) will be able to muster 1/3 vote from all members of HOR or not. By garnering the 1/3 vote or more, will trigger the transmittal of the impeachment complaint against Duterte to the Senate. A vote lower than 1/3 will effectively dismisses the complaint.
Justice panel chair Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro said she will lead the committee in defending before the plenary over its findings and proceedings that established 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.
Earlier, the Committee on Justice voted unanimously, 53-0, to impeach Duterte and later 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 is 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.
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 (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s tenure as secretary.
During the hearings, the justice panel examined the alleged questionable utilization of P612.5 million in confidential funds — P500 million under the OVP and P112.5 million under DepEd.
Lawmakers also tackled allegations that P125 million in confidential funds released to the OVP 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 (SALN) 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 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 SALN, which reflected net worth increasing from P7.25 million in 2007 to P88.51 million in 2024.
Last Monday, counsel Peter Paul Danao, speaking for the camp of Carpio, said that the Bank of the Philippine Islands 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 when Duterte was secretary.
Lawmakers received testimony and records involving alleged P50,000 cash in 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 online that she had arranged for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez to be killed should anything happen to her.
The Justice panel examined evidence and testimony related to the National Bureau of Investigation’s authentication of the video and the subsequent criminal investigation triggered by Duterte’s statements.
