Sara Duterte’s defense team says new impeachment complaints ‘no surprise’

The defense team of Sara Duterte said Monday that the filing of new impeachment complaints against the Vice President comes as “no surprise.”

“We are prepared to confront these allegations squarely through the proper constitutional processes, confident that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis,” the Vice President’s lawyers said in a statement.

“As the Supreme Court has recently emphasized, impeachment is ‘not merely a political process initiated by mere allegations or by perceived public acclaim shaped by the propagandistic effect of timed press releases or irresponsible viral posts on social media.’ It is a constitutional mechanism governed by standards, evidence, and due process,” the defense team added.

Last week, Duterte said her legal team had been preparing for a possible new impeachment complaint even after the Supreme Court upheld its 2025 ruling that found a previous complaint against her unconstitutional.

“Yung mga lawyers, they’ve been preparing. They were hired as early as the fourth quarter of 2023, the moment that one of the members of the House of Representatives announced that they will file a case against me,” Duterte said in an ambush interview in The Hague, Netherlands, on Thursday, 29 January.

On Monday, 2 February, two impeachment complaints were filed before the Office of the Secretary General of the House of Representatives.

The first complaint, endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, centers on the Vice President’s alleged use of confidential funds.

The second impeachment complaint was filed by ML Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima and Akbayan Rep. Percy Cendaña, with complainants including Kiko Aquino Dee, former presidential peace process adviser Ging Deles, and Father Flavie Villanueva.