The House committee on justice on Wednesday found the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in substance. 

The impeachment complaints were filed by Fr. Bong Saballa, among others, and that of lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera.

Both the Saballa and Cabrera complaints gathered 54 yes votes, one no vote, and zero abstention. It was Quezon City Rep. Bong Suntay who registered the negative vote.

The impeachment complaints mainly accuse the Vice President of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, among others, over the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential fund, and threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr. and his family.

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

Ahead of the voting, House Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez of South Cotabato said finding the impeachment complaints against the Vice President sufficient in substance does not decide on the guilt, or lack of it, of the Vice President.

“Our vote today is not a verdict of guilt vote of guilt nor an act of condemnation. It is simply a decision whether the constitutional process should move forward,” Hernandez said.

Also ahead of the vote, House justice panel chairperson Gerville Luistro clarified that finding the impeachment complaint sufficient in substance is not tantamount to declaring the Vice President guilty of impeachable offenses.

“This is the stage where we ask: Do the allegations rise to the level of impeachable offenses? Do these complaints meet the constitutional threshold to move forward? And [more] importantly, are the allegations credible enough to justify moving forward with the process?” Luistro said.

“At this stage, we are not determining guilt.” she added.

Only two impeachment complaints against the Vice President are left since the second complaint was withdrawn by Tindig Pilipinas to support the third complaint with same allegations.

On the other hand, the first impeachment complaint was filed by former ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, among others, was set aside by the House justice panel for violating the one-year bar rule.

The Castro et. al complaint was filed on February 2, meaning it was not filed ahead of the lapse of the one-year bar on impeachment proceedings last February 6.

The House previously impeached the Vice President last February 5, 2025, but this impeachment case signed off on by more than one-third of the members of the House en route to a Senate impeachment trial was later declared illegal by the Supreme Court by ruling that it violated the one-year bar rule by initiating it and archiving the three prior impeachment complaints filed against the Vice President. 

GMA News Online reached out to the camp of the Vice President for comment and will publish it once available.

(With reports from Llanesca Panti, GMA Integrated News)