The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines --:The House of Representative resumes it's hearing today, Tuesday, to determine whether there is probable cause to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte. The justice committee, which is presiding over the deliberations, started last March 25, 2026 when it decided to issue subpoenas for the Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs) of Duterte—a former Davao City mayor—and other documents. The SALNs sought by the committee were for "2022 – 2025 inclusive, 2007 – 2013 inclusive, and 2016 – 2022 inclusive." The committee has also issued a subpoena for, among others, "original copies of the certifications pertaining to the PSA's verification made from the PSA's Civil Registry System (CRS) database on the Certificate of Live Birth (COLB), Certificate of Marriage (COM), and Certificate of Death (COD) on several names found in the submissions of the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education." PSA stands for Philippine Statistics Authority. The committee proceeded to the stage of hearing two of the four impeachment complaints against Duterte after it found the two sufficient in form, substance, and grounds. One of the two was filed by members of the clergy and others who alleged, among others, 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. As to the allegations that she committed plunder through malversation, graft and corruption, and technical malversation in relation to confidential funds of the OVP and DepEd, Duterte said these "cannot withstand serious scrutiny." "Since these imputations do not rest on any established facts or final findings of a competent tribunal or court, they remain mere conclusions at best." Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, the committee chairman, has said in a press conference that "this hearing, clarificatory hearing, is intended for the determination of probable cause, not for the purpose of determining the guilt or innocence of the respondent".
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