The House of Representatives is poised to comfortably surpass the constitutional threshold required to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, with lawmakers estimating that support has climbed to over 200 votes.
On Thursday, May 7, Bicol Saro Party-list Representative Terry Ridon and Tingog Party-list Representative Jude Acidre revealed that the momentum for impeachment has solidified following committee hearings.
Ridon, a member of the Committee on Justice, indicated that current tallies suggest a significant majority.
“From consultations, we are now at around 215 House members supporting the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte,” Ridon said in a brief update Thursday afternoon.
Ridon noted that meeting the one-third requirement—106 out of 318 members—is no longer a hurdle, citing the weight of evidence and the Vice President’s absence from the proceedings.
Acidre echoed this confidence, projecting that the plenary vote scheduled for Monday, May 11, could match or exceed the 215 signatures gathered during the initial 2025 impeachment filing.
“Based on our monitoring, I think we’re going to hit the majority number, we’re hoping the result would be as much as or even higher than the impeachment last time, we’re hoping that at least 200 or 215, that’s really the goal,” Acidre stated.
He further clarified that while some colleagues were initially hesitant, the formal presentation of evidence during clarificatory hearings served as the turning point.
“Nung simula hindi masyadong lahat kumbinsido. Pero as we started to go through the evidence, mas klaro at nagiging mas pulido ang ating argumento na dapat na-impeach ang VP,” Acidre said.
Lawmakers believe that the transparency of the hearings helped sway both House members and public opinion, setting the stage for the articles of impeachment to be transmitted to the Senate for a second time during Duterte’s term.