MANILA, Philippines — The secretary-general of the House of Representatives is expected to act on impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte once Congress resumes session next week.
“Everything will move on Monday,” House secretary-general Reginald Velasco said in Filipino during an interview with “Storycon” on One News yesterday. “By next week, I will have to decide on it.”
Under House rules, the House secretary-general must immediately transmit to the Office of the Speaker all impeachment complaints filed in his office.
Velasco said he held off transmitting the three complaints filed against Duterte last month after some lawmakers asked for time to either review the complaints or file a fourth one.
“By next week, I will talk to these congressmen about their plans so I can decide,” added Velasco.
Aside from the possible fourth complaint, Velasco said he is also waiting for the possible filing of the consolidated version of the first three complaints. He said he was informed by the Makabayan bloc, which endorsed one of the three complaints, of the plan to submit a consolidated impeachment complaint against Duterte.
Makabayan lawmakers reportedly met with the other complainants on Wednesday to discuss their plan. The two other complaints were endorsed by Akbayan party-list Rep. Perci Cendaña and Camarines Sur 3rd District Rep. Gabriel Bordado.
According to Velasco, once the complaints are transmitted to the Office of House Speaker, Speaker Martin Romualdez will decide on whether he will transmit one or all of the complaints to the committee on rules.
The committee on rules will then transmit the complaints to the committee on justice, which has 60 session days to act on the matter.
Velasco added that the one-year period of prohibition from filing an impeachment complaint against the same official begins when a complaint is transmitted to the committee on justice.
The House of Representatives also has the option to dispense of the lengthy process if an impeachment complaint is endorsed by at least one-third of its members. Makabayan said it has initiated a signature campaign to reach the target 103 signatures of House members.
Congress will go on break on Feb. 7, which marks the start of the campaign period for the May elections.
‘SWS poll results not surprising’
The latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey revealing that 41 percent of Filipinos support the Vice President’s impeachment comes as no surprise to House leaders.
The survey, conducted between Dec. 12 and 18, 2024, showed that 41 percent of Filipinos support Duterte’s impeachment, while 35 percent oppose it, and 19 percent remain undecided.
Duterte faces three impeachment complaints in the House of Representatives, which accuse her of gross incompetence, betrayal of public trust, and deliberate misuse of public funds.
House assistant majority leader Zambales 1st District Rep. Jay Khonghun and deputy majority leader La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V said that majority of the people will give its support to impeach Duterte “given the overwhelming evidence of alleged fund misuse and betrayal of public trust.”
The two congressmen said that the SWS survey reflects public outrage over Duterte’s alleged misused of P612.5 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd) during her term as secretary.
“The numbers don’t lie. The public is demanding accountability, and this survey reflects their growing frustration over the glaring irregularities surrounding the Vice President’s actions,” Khonghun said.
Ortega emphasized that the complaints are not politically motivated but are rooted in compelling evidence of governance failures and malfeasance.
“This is about accountability. The evidence against the Vice President is glaring, from the misuse of confidential funds to a pattern of governance riddled with questions. The Filipino people deserve answers, and their support for impeachment shows they are demanding transparency and justice,” Ortega said.
For their part, both House deputy minority leader and ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro and former ACT Teachers congressman Antonio Tinio asked the House leadership yesterday to immediately act on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.
Lawmakers from both houses of Congress have a “moral obligation” to immediately act on the impeachment complaints against Duterte, a lawyer said yesterday.
“More than ever, we believe that it is no longer just the constitutional obligation of the members of the House of Representatives to impeach, and for the Senate to remove from office, the VP. That obligation now becomes a moral one,” Amando Virgil Ligutan said.
“We reiterate our call to the members of the House and the Senate. The Vice President has clearly betrayed public trust. Until when will Congress allow the Vice-President’s unabashed betrayal of public trust go unchecked?” he asked.
Ligutan serves as the legal counsel for the complainants in the third impeachment complaint, which was endorsed by Bordado, a political ally of former vice president Leni Robredo in the opposition Liberal Party.
“This decision is not made lightly but with a deep sense of responsibility to ensure accountability at the highest levels of government,” Bordado said. – Delon Porcalla
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