The Manila Times
THE House Committee on Justice has ordered Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla to submit the Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) of Vice President Sara Duterte. The SALNs sought by the committee covered the years 2022 to 2025, 2007 to 2013, and 2016 to 2022. The committee made the order in a subpoena testificandum et duces tecum issued on March 31. In a press briefing on Monday, Remulla said his office received the House subpoena and will abide by it. The committee is trying to determine whether there is probable cause to impeach Duterte, a former Davao City mayor, after it found two of the four impeachment complaints filed against her earlier this year sufficient in form and substance. Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, the committee chairman, has made it clear that the hearing “is intended for the determination of probable cause, not for the purpose of determining the guilt or innocence of the respondent.” Four impeachment complaints were filed last February against Duterte. The committee set aside the first one, finding that it violated the rule against initiating impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a one-year period. The second one filed was withdrawn by the 17 people who filed it. The third alleged that Duterte committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed public trust in connection with confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) for 2022 and 2023 and confidential funds allocated for 2023 to the Department of Education (DepEd) which she led as secretary before she resigned in 2024 from that post. It also alleged that Duterte committed culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayed public trust and committed high crimes “in contracting to murder or assassinate” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez. Duterte has denied threatening to assassinate Marcos. The complaints failed to show “any shred of proof” that a contract to kill ever existed. “Instead, complainants rely on exaggerated conclusions dressed up as fact,” she said. As to the allegations that she committed plunder through malversation, malversation, graft and corruption, and technical malversation in relation to confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd, Duterte said these “cannot withstand serious scrutiny.”
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