TIMELINE: Impeachment proceedings vs. Vice President Sara Duterte

Vice President Sara Duterte said on January 29 that the government should “move on” after the Supreme Court affirmed its ruling that declared the articles of impeachment against her unconstitutional.

Her accusers, however, turned out to be far from done and were ready to run it back. They filed fresh impeachment complaints against her just three days after the Supreme Court announced its ruling favoring the vice president.

February 2, 2026

Two new impeachment complaints were filed on the same day, February 2. 

Members of the Makabayan coalition and allied groups filed the first impeachment complaint against Duterte for 2026, alleging that the Vice President betrayed public trust due to the following acts:

• ordering subordinates to prepare implausible accomplishment reports supported by fabricated liquidation reports and falsified documents for submission to the Commission on Audit to support the use of confidential funds; and
• dereliction of official duty with her willful refusal to recognize congressional oversight during budget deliberations and its authority to conduct inquiries in aid of legislation.

On the same day, civil society organization Tindig Pilipinas and others filed their own impeachment complaint against Duterte, accusing the second highest ranking public official of the land of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and a commission of high crime over the following deeds:

• Duterte's admission, done in a public broadcast, of contracting an assassin to kill President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and then-Speaker Martin Romualdez;
• misuse and malversation of her confidential funds as vice president and then Department of Education secretary;
• causing the distribution of monetary gifts to Department of Education officials holding procurement-related functions;
• massing of unexplained wealth and failure to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth; and
• being involved in the extrajudicial killings of the Davao Death Squad during her tenure as mayor of Davao City.

Both groups also filed separate impeachment complaints against the vice president in November and December 2024, respectively. But this time, the groups included the November 2025 affidavit of Ramil Madriaga in their filings.

Madriaga says he is a former intelligence operative and campaign operator assigned by former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to then-vice presidential candidate and Davao City mayor Sara Duterte. He said that he was tasked to form the Vice President Security and Protection Group (VPSPG), during which he recommended to her Army Colonel Dennis Nolasco, who in turn tapped the services of Army Colonel Raymund Dante Lachica to head the VPSPG.

Madriaga said that from July 2022 to April 2023, he worked with Nolasco and Lachica in tactical transport services, securing the vice president and other VIPs, conveying highly confidential information, and transporting large amounts of money to several persons as instructed by the Vice President.

These allegations, the complainants said, corroborate the findings already revealed before the inquiry into the Office of the Vice President’s use of its budget conducted by the House good government and public accountability in 2024 that the vice president and the Department of Education during her time as chief have been spending their confidential funds on questionable items, to say the least.

The road ahead

Both complaints filed on February 2 this year were accepted by House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil.

Under House rules, Garafil’s office should immediately submit those verified impeachment complaints to the Office of the Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III of Isabela.

The Speaker’s office is then mandated to calendar these complaints under the Order of Business for plenary action within 10 session days upon its receipt.

Once the impeachment complaints are referred by the House plenary to the House justice panel, the one-year ban on the filing another impeachment complaint against the Vice President is triggered.

In compliance

The chairperson of the House Justice committee, Batangas Representative Gerville Luistro, said that both impeachment complaints are compliant with the Supreme Court January 28 Resolution, even if the same High Court ruling declared the 2025 impeachment case against the Vice President illegal for violating the one year bar and violation of her rights to due process.

Luistro said the January 28 Resolution provides that the first impeachment complaint filed against the vice president on December 2, 2024 was deemed initiated when the period of 10 session or calendar days lapsed on January 14, 2025 due to the the inaction of the House, meaning the one year ban lapsed on January 14.

"The session days [as provided in the Supreme Court Resolution] is now equivalent to calendar days when the House of Representatives has sessions. So counting from December 2, 2024, the 10 session days was until January 14 of 2025. In other words, January 15, 2026, the one-year prohibition period already lapsed," Luistro said in a press conference.

“The Supreme Court said [under its January 28 resolution] that a session day for purposes of impeachment proceedings, and the impeachment being a very important process, a session day is equivalent to a calendar day. As such, the timeline [on the reckoning of the one year bar] was adjusted by the Supreme Court. That is why the filing [of new impeachment complaints against the Vice President happened last February 2] was done,” said San Juan City Representative and Justice panel vice chair Ysabel "Bel" Zamora.

SC rewriting House impeachment rules

The Supreme Court’s January 28 Resolution also stated that the Articles of Impeachment signed off by over one-third of the House members and supporting evidence must be provided to all House members, including those who did not sign off on such; the evidence must meet the required quantum of proof to establish the charges; and, the evidence must be made available to all House Members for their information and guidance in deciding on the complaint during plenary deliberations.

These three guidelines did not exist when the House impeached the vice president on February 5, 2025.

February 4, 2026 — The defense team of Vice President Sara Duterte said it is ready to explain the use of aliases for confidential funds, such as the infamous “Mary Grace Piattos” that became one of the basis for the impeachment complaints filed against her. 

February 5, 2026 — Atty. Michael Poa, spokesperson of Sara Duterte’s defense team, clarified that “Mary Grace Piattos” will not be presented as part of the defense of the vice president in the impeachment complaints filed against her.  

February 6, 2026  — House Secretary General Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil released a statement saying that the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte were already transmitted to the Office of Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III.

Garafil said the documents were forwarded in the afternoon after her office completed receipt and verification of the complaints and their endorsements.

February 7, 2026 — Vice President Sara Duterte slammed the latest impeachment complaint filed against her and endorsed by Akbayan, saying it has no attached evidence proving the allegations against her.

Meanwhile, Ramil Madriaga, whose allegations were included in the second impeachment complaint against Duterte, is willing to participate in probes should he be called to appear by any of the investigating bodies, according to his lawyer.

February 9, 2026 — Religious groups, priests, and lawyers filed a third impeachment complaint against Duterte for alleged betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, among others, over the supposed misuse of at least P612 million worth of confidential funds.

Asked for comment, Atty. Michael Poa, spokesperson of Duterte’s lawyers, said: "We have nothing further to add beyond the statement we issued last week. The filing of additional complaints was anticipated by the Defense Team."

February 10, 2026 — House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil confirmed that the third impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte has been formally transmitted to the Office of House Speaker Faustino "Bojie" Dy III.

February 18, 2026 — VP Sara Duterte announces she will run for president in the 2028 national elections. During her announcement, Duterte claimed politically motivated investigations and repeated accusations were designed to damage her reputation, including what she described as “scripted” congressional inquiries. She noted that as early as the first months of the administration, she had already begun questioning what she described as a lack of integrity in governance.

Members of the Makabayan bloc criticizes Duterte's announcement that she intends to run for president in 2028, calling it a "distraction" and a "calculated" move ahead of the looming impeachment proceedings against her.

Also on the same day, a fourth impeachment complaint was filed against her, citing alleged misuse of public funds, undeclared wealth, and other alleged violations. It was transmitted to the Speaker’s office on February 19.

February 23, 2026 — The House of Representatives referred the four impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte to the House justice panel, marking the initiation of the complaints.  

On the same day, House Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega V of La Union expressed hope that his party-mates in the ruling Lakas-CMD party will support the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, saying that the Vice President has been continuously evading questions about her use of her office’s confidential funds, among other alleged misdeeds.

February 24, 2026 — Sara Duterte clarifies that the announcement of her presidential bid for the 2028 elections had nothing to do with the ongoing impeachment process at the House of Representatives.

"Hindi naman (Not really)," she said in an interview in Iligan City, stressing that the impeachment threat has been there "yesterday, tomorrow, today."

On the same day, the House committee on justice said the deliberations on the merits of the four impeachment complaints against Duterte will begin on March 2. 

February 25, 2026 — A vice chairperson of the House committee on justice says Vice President Sara Duterte's bank records may be subpoenaed as part of the impeachment proceedings.

Representative Jonathan Keith Flores said laws provide exceptions to protecting the confidentiality of bank deposits.

February 26, 2026 — The National Unity Party (NUP) said it is unlikely to vote in favor of the impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte unless “compelling new evidence” is presented.

On the same day, Malacañang said said the NUP has the freedom to decide whether it will support the impeachment complaint lodged against Vice President Sara Duterte. 

''Desisyon po nila 'yan, may kalayaan po silang mag-decide, hindi naman po sila sinasaklawan ng ating Pangulo at ng administrasyong ito,'' Palace Press Officer Undersecretary Atty. Claire Castro said at a briefing.

February 27, 2026 — The fresh impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte will include new evidence as well as allegations that she has yet to answer, two House members who endorsed the complaints indicated on Friday.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. made the remarks in separate interviews amid the challenge posed by House Committee on Justice chairperson Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro and the National Unity Party as regards the need for new pieces of evidence.

March 2, 2026 — The House committee on justice on Monday found the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in form.

The House panel found the third and fourth impeachment complaints against the Vice President compliant with the Supreme Court decision which only allows the initiation of one impeachment proceeding against an official per year and has at least one endorser from the ranks of the House members.

Earlier, the panel voted to set aside the first impeachment complaint filed against Vice President Sara Duterte for violating the one-year bar rule that only allows initiation of one impeachment proceedings against an official per year.

This happened after the House justice panel, via a 22-10 vote, approved the motion put forward by Bukidnon Rep. Keith Flores to set aside the first complaint endorsed by the Makabayan lawmakers. 

Earlier in the day, the petitioners of the second impeachment complaint against Duterte submitted their letter of withdrawal to the Office of the House Secretary General Monday morning. 

Kiko Aquino Dee, of Tindig Pilipinas and one of the complaints, said they are withdrawing their complaint and decided to give their support to the third impeachment complaint which, according to him, contains the same grounds as the one they submitted.  He said this is to expedite the impeachment proceedings. 

Also prior to the voting, House committee on justice chairperson and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said the Supreme Court did not absolve Vice President Sara Duterte of any impeachable offense,

“There are claims circulating that these impeachment complaints are merely recycled accusations already dismissed by the Supreme Court. Let us correct that. Firmly and factually, the Supreme Court did not rule on the merits of the allegations. It did not conduct a trial. It did not weigh [on the] evidence [against the Vice President]. It did not absolve anyone of wrongdoing,” Luistro said in her opening statement.

“The Court itself clarified that its ruling was limited to the constitutional one-year bar rule, it emphasized that it did not absolve the Vice President of any of the charges. Those are the Supreme Court’s own clarification. To suggest, therefore, that the accusations have already been resolved on the merits is legally incorrect,” she added. 

March 3, 2026 —  Vice President Sara Duterte’s threat to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and others makes the third impeachment complaint filed against her sufficient in substance because her words can translate to real harm, House justice panel members said Tuesday.

Negros Oriental Second District Rep. Janice Degamo, widow of the slain Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo, was one of the lawmakers who made the assertion during the House justice panel deliberation on the sufficiency in substance of the impeachment complaints filed against the Vice President.

March 4, 2026 — The House committee on justice on Wednesday found the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in substance. 

In separate voting, the impeachment complaints filed by Fr. Bong Saballa, among others, and lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera each received 54 yes, one no, and zero abstention. It was Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay who registered the negative vote.

As a result, the Vice President was ordered to file her answer to the impeachment complaints within 10 calendar days.

March 5, 2026 — The House justice panel on Thursday officially ordered Vice President Sara Duterte to answer allegations of impeachable offenses against her.

In a Notice to Respondent dated March 4, 2026 addressed to the Office of the Vice President at Cybergate Plaza in Mandaluyong City, the committee ordered Duterte to submit her verified answer “within a non-extendible period of 10 calendar days” from receipt of the notice and to serve a copy of her Verified Answer to complainants within the same period as required under Section 6 of the House rules.

The OVP received the notice at 10:44 a.m., March 5. 

Also on March 5, House justice panel chairman Gerville Luistro said her committee will decide on the impeachment case of the Vice President within two months. 

March 9 — The NUP, the second largest political party in the House of Representatives with at least 40 members, said it won’t back a weak impeachment case against the Vice President. 

March 10 — House Deputy Speaker Ronaldo Puno, also the NUP chair, denied that the NUP met  with Speaker Faustino “Bojie" Dy III or House Majority Leader Sandro Marcos regarding the impeachment of Vice President Duterte, and that the NUP is supposedly already on board her impeachment. 

March 11 — House Deputy Minority Leader Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list asked the House committee on justice to take custody of Vice President Sara Duterte's alleged former aide Ramil Madriaga pending the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing security concerns. 

The members of the 16-strong legal team of the Vice President for the impeachment proceedings were also revealed during this day. 

March 13 — Vice President Sara Duterte maintained that there is no sufficient evidence to warrant an impeachment case against her, citing Diokno’s request for the House justice panel to take in Madriaga and other documents such as her wealth and bank statements prove they have nothing on her.

March 15 — Vice President Sara Duterte said the House of Representatives will have to wait and see if she will respond to the impeachment charges filed against her on Monday, March 16, the last day of her 10-day window to do so.

March 16 — The camp of Vice President Sara filed her answer to impeachment complaint. 

Atty. Michael Poa said the reply was "ad cautelam" or filed as a precaution because Duterte's camp didn't see the need to answer the complaint as it had no "ultimate facts" that would support the allegations against her.

March 17 — The impeachment complainants filed a waiver manifesting their intention not to file reply to the answer submitted by the camp of the Vice President.

Rev. Fr. Joel Saballa and others said in their three-page Manifestation of Waiver to File a Reply that Duterte's answer “conspicuously failed to specifically deny each and every material allegation in the 98-page impeachment complaint."

Lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera said the Vice President's answer "raises no new factual matters and consists mainly of general denials, legal conclusions, and procedural objections."

Lawmakers also said that Duterte failed to answer the allegations in the impeachment complaints

March 18 — The hearing proper on the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte will start on March 25, 2026, House committee on justice chairperson and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said. 

Later in the day, the House justice committee found the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in grounds, citing that the Vice President failed to address to the allegations against her in the Answer Ad Cautelam (With Caution) she submitted. 

“Considering that the answer [of the Vice President] has very limited responses to the offenses and most of the discussions pertain really to the violation of due process and failure to state ultimate facts…the opportunity to convince the justice members not to declare sufficiency in ground was lost. Because in the determination of sufficiency in ground, the answer should be the basis [of lawmakers in deciding] if the answer was substantial enough to reduce the substance of the impeachment complaint,” Luistro said at a press conference after the proceedings.

“But the thing is, the responses to the allegations of offenses were very limited. And perhaps you've seen it during our deliberation, most of the lawmakers were simply reiterating the same argument that they articulated already during the sufficiency in substance. That is because there are not enough allegations in the answer to comment on,” she added.

March 19 — The House of Representatives invited Vice President Sara Duterte to appear in the scheduled impeachment hearings on March 25, April 14, April 22 and April 29. 

March 22 — House Committee on Justice chairperson Representative Gerville Luistro said that there is no double standard when it came to handling the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte and those against President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr.

Luistro said that for one, impeachment allegations against the President did not show direct participation of the Chief Executive. In contrast, Luistro said the allegations vs. Vice President Duterte showed her participation, particularly the video where the Vice President threatened to kill the President and his family in the event that she is killed. 

March 24 —  The House committee on justice said it has not received any feelers from the camp of Vice President Sara Duterte regarding her possible attendance in tomorrow's impeachment hearing. 

Committee Chair Gerville Luistro, however, is hopeful that the vice president will take this opportunity to challenge the allegations against her.

March 25 — The House committee on justice started its hearing proper into the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte. 

Duterte, however, did not attend the initial hearing, insisting that no policy requires respondents to do so. 

In a statement, Duterte said she would rather spend her time helping people affected by the soaring prices of petroleum products than attend the hearing, which she claimed the House of Representatives is only using to conduct a “third fishing expedition” against her. 

But panel chairperson Rep. Gerville Luistro questioned Vice President Duterte’s faithfulness to her oath of office to follow the Constitution amid her absence in the impeachment proceedings.

Luistro said the Vice President's absence was not exactly in line with her previous statements that she is ready to face the charges against her. — with Sherilyn Untalan/BM/KG/MCG/RSJ/AOL, GMA Integrated News