Third impeachment complaint filed vs. VP Sara Duterte

Religious groups, priests, and lawyers filed Monday a third impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara 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.

Lawyer Amando Virgil Ligutan, counsel for the complainants, said their impeachment complaint is based on the findings of the House good government and public accountability committee on the confidential fund use of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education under Duterte, the vice president's threat of assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and the accusations of a certain Ramil Madriaga linking Duterte to drug money. 

“Vice President Sara [Duterte], as head of both offices [of the Vice President and Department of Education], had the ultimate role of approving and overseeing the implementation of the programs under both offices. And, without her approval, no confidential funds may be released or disposed of,” the Ligutan et al complaint endorsed by House Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal party-list Representative Leila de Lima read.

“The Sandiganbayan recently decided to sentence a public school principal, for pocketing P5,000 pesos, to 11 years of imprisonment. That is on one hand. Can we give a free pass to the vice president for stealing not one, not two, but P612.5 million? Do we give the vice president a free pass just because she has a famous family name? How do we talk to our kids [then]? We can send somebody for pocketing P5,000 to jail for 11 years and let the vice president go scot-free just because she has a famous family name?” Ligutan told reporters after filing the complaint.

Fr. Bong Sarabia, one of the complainants, said that the impeachment process is the way to make the vice president respond to unanswered questions on how her office uses public funds, including confidential funds.

“We’re here to represent not only ourselves but sectors behind us. We are not only Catholics. We are also Protestants…we have pastor, evangelicals with us. Kami po ay naninindigan sa paniniwala po namin na oportunidad dito ng pangalawang pangulo para sumagot sa mga katanungan na hindi nasagot. Ngayon po ay binibigyan siya ng pagkakataon [na sumagot] ng impeachment [complaint] na isang pamamaraan na nakabatay sa Konstitusyon. Kaya kami ay narito ay nagpa-file, para gamitin ang oportunidad para siya [ay maobliga na] magpaliwanag, ilabas ang ebidensiya niya at ang aming mga abogado ay nakahanda [rin] upang ilatag naman po ang aming mga pananaw, ang aming mga ebidensiya laban po sa pangalawang Pangulo,” Saballa said.

(We stand by our belief that this is an opportunity for the vice president to answer the questions which she has failed to answer. She is being given the chance [to answer] via impeachment which is a process based on the Constitution. That is why we are here, to file and use the opportunity to obligate her to explain and present her evidence, and our lawyer is ready also to lay down our views and evidence against the vice president.)

The Vice President’s resistance to accountability and suppression of crucial information, the complainants argued, makes Duterte’s removal from office long overdue.

”Vice President Sara failed to explain why she had to use the confidential funds to buy things that she failed to relate to confidential activities. The obvious truth that she tried to cover up by reporting to COA (Commission on Audit) that the OVP bought things is clear: the OVP never conducted information gathering or surveillance activities. She wanted to conceal how she misappropriated the confidential funds,” the complaint pointed out.

De Lima, for her part, said she decided to endorse the third impeachment complaint against the vice president because it is legally allowed and the grounds for impeachment cited were related and not too far from those alleged in the second complaint that she also endorsed.

Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and others file the third impeachment complaint against VP Sara Duterte at the House of Representatives. | via Chino Gaston/GMA Integrated News pic.twitter.com/XMHA7HWMPx

— GMA Integrated News (@gmanews) February 9, 2026

“There is no prohibition on anyone from being an endorser [of an impeachment complaint] more than once. That [prohibition] is not in the rules. The law, the Constitution does not provide that a House member can only endorse one complaint. I agreed to be an endorser because the complainants are people that I trust being my spiritual advisers, and the grounds cited are not far off from the previous complaint,” de Lima said.

De Lima added that the third complaint is backed up by supporting evidence, such as COA findings, the admissions of the vice president and her staff members during the House good government and public accountability panel inquiry, and liquidation documents showing fictitious names of alleged payees or alleged beneficiaries or confidential funds, among others.

“Sigurado rin po ako, just like the second complaint, na papasa ito sa stage ng pag-determine ng sufficiency in form and substance and hanggang doon sa proceedings sa House which, as I said, is 'yung pag-evaluate na ng mga ebidensiya kasi sasagutin nga 'yan, papasagutin ang respondent, si VP Sara,” de Lima said.

(I am sure, just like the second complaint, that this [third complaint] will pass the stage of determining sufficiency in form and substance, and even up to the proceedings of the House which, as I said, is the evaluation of evidence because respondent VP Sara will be made to reply to these.)

De Lima also dismissed Duterte's argument that the impeachment efforts against her are mere political attacks ahead of the May 2028 presidential elections, saying the complainants have nothing to gain politically in their effort to remove her from office.

“You see the profile of the complainants for the third complaint, and even the first and second complaints. They are private citizens, members of clergy, members of organizations…and they have been into this cause, into their campaign for accountability of highest officials of this country, and including the vice president,” de Lima said.

“Their motivation is not at all political. As Fr. Sarabia said, this is a moral obligation of everyone. The moral obligation of the members of Congress to do its constitutional duty to scrutinize the allegations, evaluate the evidence, and make a finding of probable cause so it can be considered for adoption of Articles of Impeachment for Senate impeachment trial. Besides, that is a political argument, not a legal defense [on the allegations against her],” de Lima added.

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."

"For now, we will continue to closely monitor developments and address these complaints through the appropriate constitutional processes," Poa added.

Last 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.

The second impeachment complaint against the vice president was also filed last February 2 by civil society organization Tindig Pilipinas and others and was endorsed by de Lima and Akbayan Party-list Representative Perci Cendaña. 

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 Marcos, 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.

Duterte on Saturday, Feb. 7, slammed the second impeachment complaint filed against her, saying it has no attached evidence proving the allegations against her.

“Ang impeachment complaint na inendorso ng Akbayan ay isang papel na walang kalakip na kahit anong ebidensiyang magpapatunay sa mga paratang na isinasaad dito,” she said.

(The impeachment complaint endorsed by Akbayan was a paper without any attached evidence that will prove the allegations it pertained.)

“Hindi na ito bago. Matatandaan na ang impeachment laban sa akin ang naging sagot nila sa aking pag-alis sa Gabinete—isang hakbang na isinagawa dahil hindi na maipaliwanag ng Pangulo ang patuloy na pagkalugmok ng bayan sa kahirapan dulot ng kanyang kapabayaan at bisyo,” she added.

(This is not new. To recall, impeachment complaint was their response to me when I left the Cabinet— a move I did because the President can no longer explain the country’s continuous fall into poverty resulting from his negligence and vices.)

In a statement, Akbayan president Rafaela David ridiculed Duterte’s release of a video message, saying that while the vice president calls the complaint as something that has no merit, “it rattled her enough to release a video message.”

READ: TIMELINE: Impeachment proceedings vs. Vice President Sara Duterte

—KG/RSJ, GMA Integrated News