House submits certification that impeachment complaint vs. VP Sara is constitutional

The House of Representatives on Wednesday submitted the certification that the impeachment complaint it filed against Vice President Sara Duterte is in accordance with the Constitution, in compliance with the Senate impeachment court’s order.

In its submission dated June 25, the House prosecution panel submitted the enrolled copy of its House Resolution 2346 certifying that the impeachment complaint did not violate the Constitutional one-year bar which only limits the filing of one impeachment complaint against an impeachable official per year.

The House Resolution 2346 was adopted by the House plenary on June 11.

“The House of Representatives, through the public prosecutors, most respectfully submits the attached enrolled copy of Resolution No. 328 (House Resolution No. 2346), adopted in Plenary on June 11, 2025, attesting to the fact that the impeachment proceedings initiated on February 5, 2025 against the Vice President of the Republic of the Philippines, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, fully complied with Article XI, Section 3, Paragraph 5 of the 1987 Constitution and the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings of the House of Representatives, including the circumstances on the filing of the first three impeachment complaints,” the submission read.

“This submission is without waiver of the prosecution’s position that there is no legal basis for the return of the Articles of Impeachment forwarded to the Senate in accordance with the 1987 Constitution, which enjoys a presumption of legality and constitutionality, consistent with the Resolution of the Honorable Court dated January 18, 2012, in the matter of the Impeachment of Chief Justice Renato C. Corona, Case No. 002-2011 (Annex “B”) passing upon the same matters,” it added.

The first three impeachment complaints were filed by various civil society groups and endorsed by different sets of lawmakers after the House good government and public accountability inquiry revealed that based on the submissions of Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education under Vice President Duterte’s tenure as Education chief to the Commission on Audit, the P612 million of confidential funds that her office received from 2022 to 2023 were liquidated with acknowledgement receipts containing wrong dates, signatories with no birth records, unnamed signatures, non-readable signatories, among others.

These first three impeachment complaints, however, were not forwarded by the House Secretary General Reginald Velasco to the Office of the Speaker, Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez,  a requirement for the complaint to be scheduled for House Committee on Justice-level deliberation.

House prosecution panel spokesperson Antonio Audie Bucoy also earlier said that the first three impeachment complaints were never initiated and thus, the fourth impeachment complaint that was transmitted to the Senate was constitutionally compliant.

“Under the [impeachment] rules po, and decided cases of the Supreme Court, initiation happens when the impeachment complaint is endorsed to the House Committee on Justice. This did not happen in the first three impeachment complaints,” Bucoy said.

“Now, this [fourth and] current impeachment complaint, hindi na kinakailangan dumaan doon because it was already endorsed by more than one-third of the House members. In that case, the impeachment complaint becomes the articles of impeachment itself.  So, hindi ho na-violate yung one-year bar rule because ‘yung tatlong impeachment complaint, hindi ho nakaabot eh doon sa referral to the Committee on Justice,” Bucoy added.

(The fourth impeachment complaint never needed to be referred to the House justice panel because it has been endorsed by more than one-third of all House members. Ergo, the one year bar rule was not violated because the first three impeachment complaints were never referred to the House Committee on Justice.)

No question on jurisdicton

Also on Wednesday, the House prosecutors also resubmitted their entry of appearance and explicitly stated no reservation nor any other conditions.

The House prosecutors’ position is contrary to the Vice President’s answer, which was an Answer Ad Cautelam and a qualified Entry of Appearance Ad Cautelam, which means with caution since they are still questioning the jurisdiction of the Senate impeachment court on the impeachment complaint filed against her.

“The House of Representatives through the Public Prosecutors, unto this Honorable Impeachment Court, most respectfully re-submit their Entry of Appearance With Motion to Issue Summons dated 14 March 2025, previously filed by the prosecution on 25 March 2025, which remains in the record together with the Articles of Impeachment that remain lodged with the court,” the Manifestation read.

“In contrast to the Appearance Ad Cautelam dated 16 June 2025 filed by the counsels for the Respondent, Sara Zimmerman Duterte, there is no reservation, limitation or other qualification of any kind on the part of the undersigned public prosecutors,” it added.

The House prosecutors’ submission was signed by House Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan, who is authorized to act on behalf of the entire panel of House prosecutors.

Copies were furnished also to both the Vice President and her legal counsel from the law firm Fortun Narvasa and Salazar.

1-Rider Partylist Representative Ramon Rodrigo "Rodge" Gutierrez, one of the House impeachment prosecutors, stands by the constitutionality of the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte.

"Yes, from the start. We have our legal basis and factual basis to say na ito is constitutional to begin with," Gutierrez told reporters in an ambush interview.

Gutierrez also said the House Prosecution Panel may submit its reply to Vice President Duterte's Answer Ad Cautelam even before the deadline on Monday.

"The House is definitely preparing. We've gone through it and we will be complying within the period provided for us to file our reply... It could be earlier than Monday," he said.

"Even prior to the receipt of the Answer, nag-prepare na rin po yung Prosecution team, together with consultants and the private prosecutors," he added. — BM, GMA Integrated News