MANILA: The grounds stated in the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte have been deemed sufficient by the House of Representatives’ committee on justice, setting the stage for hearings on the matter.
During the hearing on Wednesday (March 18), Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor moved to declare the third complaint sufficient in ground as Deputy Speaker Janette Garin made the motion for the fourth impeachment rap.
As both motions were seconded and no objections were raised, committee chairperson and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro declared the grounds sufficient.
Earlier, Luistro said that the panel will now go straight to discussing the sufficiency of the grounds, as petitioners waived their right to reply.
“Today’s agenda is simple, yet heavy with consequence. We reiterate that we are not here to decide guilt or innocence. This is not a trial […] We are here for one question, one question only: is there sufficient basis to continue the process of impeachment?” Luistro said in her opening speech.“That is the only question before us today. Are there sufficient grounds to proceed? Sufficient grounds — that is the question. Wala nang iba (Nothing else), let us be clear, today is not about judgment, today is about justification,” she added.
Under the House Rules of the 19th Congress, which the 20th Congress adopted — particularly the Rules of Procedure in Impeachment Proceedings — five steps must be observed:
- filing of complaints and referral to the committee on justice
- determination of sufficiency in form and substance
- determination of sufficiency in grounds
- hearing the presentation of evidence, memoranda, and witnesses
- crafting of the report and recommendation
With the committee declaring the raps sufficient in substance last March 4 and now declaring it as sufficient in terms of grounds, the proceedings will now move to the fourth step.
Two out of four complaints remain under the jurisdiction of the committee on justice, after the first complaint was set aside for allegedly violating the one-year bar rule, while the second was withdrawn by its petitioners.
All four complaints contained allegations that are similar to the botched impeachment attempt last February 2025 — from allegations of confidential funds misuse, threats against ranking officials, bribery of officials, and other possible violations of the 1987 Constitution. - Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN
