k9win House impeaches Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate

Vice President Sara Duterte —HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte has been impeached by the House of Representatives after a total of 215 lawmakers have endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint, fast-tracking the processing and sending of the petition to the Senate for a trial.

On Wednesday, the last session before Congress goes on a break for the election season, it was announced that over one-third of all House members have signed the impeachment complaint.

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Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe moved that additional references of business for the day be read, during which House Secretary General Reginald Velasco announced that a fourth impeachment complaint was filed, which was endorsed by 215 lawmakers who swore before him.

READ: Explainer: What happens when the VP is impeached?

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Dalipe then inquired how many of the lawmakers would be needed to fast-track the processing of the impeachment complaints, to which Velasco said that with 306 members of the House, a petition should have 102 signatures.

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With the signatures being more than enough, House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez approved the motion to send the impeachment complaints against Duterte to the Senate for a trial.

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The following lawmakers were designated as members of the prosecution team:

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop 1-Rider party-list Rep. Rodge Gutierrez Manila Rep. Joel Chua Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon General Santos City Rep. Loreto Acharon 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan Oriental Mindoro Rep. Arnan Panaligan San Juan City Rep. Isabel Maria Zamora Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor Bukidnon Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores

The announcement comes hours after Velasco confirmed that a fourth impeachment complaint will be filed, with 153 lawmakers signing the petition.

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READ: 153 House reps sign up for VP Sara Duterte’s impeachment 

Under the 1987 Constitution, all impeachment complaints must be filed before the House.  However, there are two ways that a petition can proceed: under Article XI, Section 3 of the 1987 Constitution, a verified complaint can be discussed after the House Secretary General forwards it to the House Speaker, who in turn sends it to the House committee on rules and the committee on justice.

A vote of at least one-third of all House members will then ensure that the complaint would be forwarded to the Senate.

The Constitution, however, allows a quicker second method, where an endorsement from one-third of all House members would allow the immediate convening of a Senate trial — skipping the discussions at the House Committee on Rules and the Committee on Justice.

READ: Some solons looking for endorsers to expedite VP Duterte’s impeachment

This fast-tracking mode was first raised as a possible means of impeaching Duterte when Velasco said that a group of 12 Majority and Minority lawmakers were looking for signatures that would back the filing of a fourth impeachment complaint.

But as no fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed, Velasco said last Monday that the first three petitions — all filed last December 2024 — will be forwarded to the Office of Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez within the week.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, one of the lawmakers who endorsed the second impeachment complaint, said that it will be better if one-third of all House members just sign the existing impeachment complaints against Duterte, so that procedures can be fast-tracked.

Previous complaints against Duterte were based on her threat to have Romualdez, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos assassinated, along with the findings of the House committee on good government and public accountability.

Last September 2024, the panel started its investigation of accusations that Duterte’s — the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and previously, the Department of Education (DepEd) — misused confidential fund (CF) allocations.

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Over the course of the panel’s hearings, it was revealed that some of the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for the CFs were signed by a certain Mary Grace Piattos — which Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop said bears a first name similar to a coffee shop, and a surname that is a famous potato chip brand.

Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for the DepEd — which were both received by a certain Kokoy Villamin.  However, the signatures and handwriting of Villamin differed.

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The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) eventually said that the names Mary Grace Piattos and Kokoy Villamin do not exist within their live birth, marriage, and death registry.  Furthermore, PSA said that they have no records of the more than 400 names on the ARs for the DepEd’s CFs.

Kristine entered the Philippine area of responsibility on Monday and it is forecast to further intensify into a typhoon.

In a memorandumk9win, Gov. Vincenzo Renato Luigi Villafuerte said all the local officials were advised to identify the most vulnerable communities and facilitate evacuation.

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