THE House of Representatives’ Committee on Justice has released its notice of meeting for the impeachment hearing of Vice President Sara Duterte. The hearings are set for March 2, 3 and 4 starting at 10 a.m. at the Jose de Venecia People’s Center. Justice Committee chairman and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro will preside. The panel will decide whether the four impeachment complaints against Duterte are sufficient in form and substance. The cases were individually filed by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan and endorsed by the Makabayan bloc; Tindig Pilipinas, led by Francis Aquino Dee and endorsed by Akbayan Rep. Percival Cendaña and ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima; Rev. Joel Saballa and endorsed by de Lima; and Nathaniel Cabrera and endorsed by Representatives Bienvenido Abante and Paolo Ortega V. If the committee finds that the complaints are sufficient in form and substance, it will next determine whether the complaints are enough to create articles of impeachment against Duterte. The cases would then be submitted to the plenary. One-third of the House’s 106 members are needed for the complaints to be transferred to the Senate for trial. Michael Wesley Poa, the spokesman for the vice president’s defense team, said they would “closely monitor” the deliberations. “We trust that the same standards applied in assessing the sufficiency in form and substance of impeachment complaints filed against the president will likewise be consistently and impartially applied to the complaints against the vice president,” Poa said in a statement sent to The Manila Times. The National Unity Party has said that their members will not vote on Duterte’s impeachment unless “compelling new evidence” emerges during the justice committee hearings. NUP Secretary General Reginald Velasco said that impeachment is “one of the most important constitutional powers entrusted to Congress,” and it is not a “political instrument nor a forum for revisiting matters already exhaustively examined.” Velasco said the party is prepared to assess any new evidence that will be presented during the deliberations.