The legal defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte has effectively signaled their expectation that the impeachment proceedings will move to a full-blown trial in the Senate, according to Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro.
Luistro, who chairs the House Committee on Justice, observed that the Duterte camp’s recent public statements suggest an admission that the House will likely find probable cause in the complaints filed against her.
This assessment comes ahead of the committee’s final hearing scheduled for April 29.
“It appears to me, doon sa kanilang press con, they are acknowledging already that this will be reaching a trial. Kasi, they’re claiming an opportunity to scrutinize, they’re claiming an opportunity to cross examine dahil kulang at malabo pa daw,” Luistro stated.
The lawmaker emphasized that the committee’s current mandate is merely to establish probable cause—a low threshold that requires justification for a trial rather than a definitive ruling on guilt.
Core Allegations and Financial Discrepancies
The impeachment complaints center on several high-profile allegations, including the alleged misuse of confidential funds.
Luistro pointed to a final ruling from the Commission on Audit (COA) ordering the Vice President to return ₱73 million of the ₱125 million spent within an 11-day window in December 2022. An additional ₱375 million spent in 2023 was also disallowed by the COA, though that decision remains appealable.
Furthermore, the committee is examining reports from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) regarding ₱6.7 billion in “covered and suspicious transactions” involving the accounts of the Vice President and her husband, Atty. Mans Carpio.
Luistro noted that these figures appear inconsistent with Duterte’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN), which reportedly declared zero cash on hand or in banks from 2019 to 2024.
The “Others” Defense
Lawyers for the Vice President have countered that the missing cash declarations were actually bundled under the “Others” category in her SALN.
Luistro argued that this specific defense further necessitates a trial.
“So presenting these items, the cash and the deposit in bank in other items such as ‘Others’ will be probing already, will require cross-examination already. So it is as if they’re saying, ‘Let’s go to trial so that we can explain why naka-zero declaration ang cash, naka-zero declaration bank deposit because the thing is they were incorporated in the item ‘Others’,’” Luistro explained.
Next Steps for the Committee
The April 29 hearing is set to address more than just financial records. The panel will also discuss alleged threats made by Duterte against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the First Lady, and the former House Speaker.
The committee is expected to conclude the session by voting on whether to elevate the impeachment complaints to the Senate, which would officially begin the trial phase.