Ridon says fast-track mode on VP Sara impeach raps possible; Luistro airs caution

After their transmittal to the Office of the Speaker, the two verified impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte are expected to be referred to the House justice panel for discussions next week.

Party-list Representative Terry Ridon, a member of the justice panel, said the fast-track mode of direct transmittal to the Senate for trial is still possible, but committee chairperson Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro aired cautioned against such moves.

“Now that the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte have been transmitted to the Office of the Speaker, we can expect these to be included in the Order of Business of the House plenary for action as early as February 9, 2026,” Ridon said. 

“This [transmittal to the Speaker's office, however, does not preclude one-third of all House members from endorsing articles of impeachment against the Vice President for direct transmittal to the Senate, so long as no plenary referral has yet been made to the House Committee on Justice,” he added.

Ridon was referring to the Constitutional provision which states that the impeachment complaint can be sent to the Senate for trial forthwith, provided that at least one-third of all the House members endorse the complaint.

The one-third route allows the House to bypass the justice panel deliberations.

According to a separate "24 Oras" report by Darlene Cay, Luistro said lawmakers should be careful about taking the short route, especially following an earlier Supreme Court (SC) decision stressing the need for due process in the impeachment proceedings.

"Kasi dyan nagkaroon ng requirement ang ating Supreme Court in the first decision na dapat mabigyan ng notice ang respondent. At dapat mabigyan ng pagkakataon ng respondent to file an answer to the impeachment complaint.That is in as far as the first decision is concerned. And then with respect to the recent resolution, evidence must be attached to the impeachment complaint and that the same must be sufficient to support the impeachment complaint," Luistro said.

She said it was better that the committee on rules issue clear and detailed guidelines on impeachment proceedings in line with the SC ruling.

Luistro also said impeachment complaints could still be filed against the vice president.

"So long as wala pang nari-refer sa Justice Committee (it is not yet referred to the Justice committee) ...Let us remember that the process of initiation is completed by the referral of the plenary of the impeachment complaint to the Justice Committee," she said.

The first impeachment complaint filed against the Vice President was by the Makabayan coalition and their allied groups alleged 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

The second impeachment complaint was filed civil society organization Tindig Pilipinas and others. It accused the second highest ranking public official of the land of betrayal of public trust, 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.

During the 19th Congress, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte through the express route after at least 215 lawmakers endorsed the impeachment complaint against her.

The 2025 impeachment complaint against the Vice President, however, was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court due to the violation of the one-year bar rule and the violation of the Vice President's right to due process.

The Supreme Court, in declaring the 2025 impeachment case unconstitutional, said the House's archiving of the first three impeachment complaints after the fourth impeachment complaint was initiated is as good as an initiation of impeachment complaint.

The High Court also said that the 2025 impeachment case is unconstitutional because the initiated fourth impeachment complaint did not contain attachments of supporting evidence, among other additional rules which did not exist when the House members impeached the Vice President on February 5, 2025.—LDF, GMA Integrated News