VP Sara impeach raps filing next month possible even if House appeal still pending at SC -Ridon

The filing of a new impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte next month is possible even if the Supreme Court (SC) has yet to resolve the House of Representatives’ appeal on the High Court's decision declaring the impeachment raps filed vs.Duterte in 2025 as illegal, a House leader said Wednesday.

House public accounts panel chairperson and Bicol Saro Party-list Representataive Terry Ridon, a lawyer, made the response when asked if a new impeachment complaint against the Vice President is contingent on the said SC decision.

The Articles of Impeachment filed by the House of Representatives against the Vice President on February 5, 2025 include:

• conspiracy to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and then Speaker and Leyte Representative Martin Romualdez;
• malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds with questionable liquidation documents;
• bribery and corruption in the Department of Education during Duterte’s tenure as secretary by handing out cash to former DepEd Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil-Mercado (Procurement Head), Bids and Awards Committee Member Resty Osias, DepEd Chief Accountant Rhunna Catalan and Special Disbursing Officer Edward Fajarda;
• unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets in the VP’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth where her wealth increased by four times from 2007 from 2017;
• involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao City;
• destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder efforts, which include: boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos' resignation, obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas, threatening bodily harm against the First Couple and Romualdez, among others; and
• the totality of the VP’s conduct as the second highest official of the land.

“The basis for the impeachment last year has not changed actually for 2026. If House members or civil society would want to file it again as soon as the one-year ban is finished [by February 6 this year], they are free to do so,” Ridon said in a press conference.

“I don't think it (filing another impeachment complaint) is contingent on anything. Kasi anyone is, as soon as the ban is finished, has lapsed, anyone is free to make what they want to do of that lapsing of the date. [But] siyempre, it gives a little bit more complication on how the House will have to proceed pagka hindi pa resolve the MR [motion for reconsideration] (if the MR has not yet been resolved). Hindi po natin kontrolado ang Korte Suprema (We are not in control of the Supreme Court),” Ridon added.

Ridon was referring to the July 2025 Supreme Court ruling the impeachment case against her as unconstitutional for violating the one-year bar rule and the House of Representatives violating her right to due process.

The High Court said the impeachment complaint filed by the House in 2025 violated the Vice President’s right to due process because it did not follow a number of rules.

These new rules, which did not exist at the time that the House filed the impeachment complaint vs. the Vice President, include:

· the Articles of Impeachment or Resolution must include evidence when shared with the House members, especially those who are considering its endorsement.

· the evidence should be sufficient to prove the charges in the Articles of Impeachment.

· the Articles of Impeachment and the supporting evidence should be available to all members of the House of Representatives, not only to those who are being considered to endorse.

· the respondent in the impeachment complaint should have been given a chance to be heard on the Articles of Impeachment and the supporting evidence to prove the charges prior to its transmittal to the Senate, despite the number of endorsements from House members.

· the House of Representatives must be given reasonable time to reach their independent decision of whether or not they will endorse an impeachment complaint. However, the Supreme Court has the power to review whether this period is sufficient. The petitioner who invokes the Supreme Court's power to review should prove that officials failed to perform their duties properly.

· the basis of any charge must be for impeachable acts or omissions committed in relation to their office and during the current term of the impeachable officer. For the President and Vice President, these acts must be sufficiently grave amounting to the crimes described in Article XI Section 2, or the Trail of Public Trust given by the majority of the electorate. For the other impeachable officers, the acts must be sufficiently grave that they undermine and outweigh the respect for their constitutional independence and autonomy.

· the House of Representatives is required to provide a copy of the Articles of Impeachment and its accompanying evidence to the respondent to give him/her an opportunity to respond within a reasonable period to be determined by the House rule and to make the Articles of Impeachment, with its accompanying evidence and the comment of the respondent, available to all the members of the House of Representatives.

Ridon said he also does not want to preempt the House as to how it will proceed concerning the impeachment of the Vice President.

“I also cannot make a statement on how the House will have to proceed. Will it insist on its own Rules by the sixth of February kung wala pang Resolution iyong MR? I don’t know. But the House has to decide by that point,” Ridon said.

The House leader, however, conceded that it would be more ideal if the SC will resolve the appeal of the House on the Duterte impeachment case before February 6.

“The more important question that needs to be resolved first and needs to be asked first would be what is the status of the motion for reconsideration that has been made by Congress before the Supreme Court? Because a lot of questions can be resolved as soon as that appeal gets disposed of (ruled upon) by the Supreme Court,” Ridon said.

“If it is favorable to the House, it basically would mean we don't need another impeachment complaint against the Vice President at this point. It means the Senate will have to proceed to trial, and that would have to guide us by 6 February when there are new impeachment complaints lodged,” Ridon added.

Last December, Duterte said was not surprised by the plans to refile an impeachment complaint against her, alleging that it is being used as a “bargaining chip” by certain lawmakers before the passage of the 2026 national budget. 

This came following the announcement of militant coalition Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) that it is preparing a fresh impeachment complaint against the Vice President in time for the end of the constitutionally mandated one-year ban on such complaints on February 5, 2026.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian however said Tuesday that the impeachment bid against Duterte was not discussed during the deliberations on the 2026 national budget. —KG, GMA Integrated News