De Lima cites ‘smoking gun’ evidence in renewed push to impeach Duterte

Former Justice Secretary and Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima on Monday cited what she described as “smoking gun” evidence as she urged the House of Representatives to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte anew and allow a Senate trial to proceed.

De Lima told her colleagues that “most of the factual allegations and the annexes in the Saballa et al. were the same as those contained in the articles of impeachment that were sent to the Senate in February 2025.”

She was referring to the third impeachment complaint filed by petitioners led by Fr. Joel Saballa and Fr. Joselito Sarabia, which she has endorsed.

Last year’s Articles of Impeachment against Duterte were endorsed by 215 House members, exceeding the one-third threshold required to transmit the case to the Senate.

“I reiterate, this House has impeached Vice President Sara Duterte before. The records are clear. This House already determined at least once that the allegations against her were serious enough to trigger the constitutional process,” De Lima said.

She described as “absurd” attempts to downplay the accusations in the Saballa et al. petition and other complaints.

“Nothing changed. The grounds, the facts and the evidence remained valid. This should still be enough to impeach her this time,” she said.

De Lima noted that when the Supreme Court dismissed last year’s impeachment complaint, it did not absolve the Vice President of the charges.

“Nasabi na rin po ito ng ating Madam Chair, that the Vice President was not absolved. In the High Tribunal's own words, quote, at the House's discretion, the grounds raised in the articles of impeachment may again be raised based on any evidence that may have been discovered, if any, end of quote,” she said.

She also rejected claims that there is no strong evidence against Duterte.

“I beg to disagree. The video containing the Vice President's threat to kill the President, the First Lady and then House Speaker, as well as the media interview where she affirmed it is a smoking gun. The numerous documents evidencing payments or the debts with fictitious names are smoking guns,” she said.

De Lima was referring to millions of pesos in confidential and intelligence fund disbursements to individuals who could not be located and had no records in the Philippine Statistics Authority database.

“Saballa et al.'s complaint is replete with many other documentary evidence which are also smoking guns. And even assuming…that the evidence in the articles are not or no longer smoking guns, we have them this time. We will produce them in the form of compelling testimonies and newly discovered material evidence, one more time with feelings as the lyrics of a song go,” she said.

She added that if the House previously found sufficient basis to impeach the Vice President and transmit the case to the Senate, consistency requires the same conclusion now.

“Hindi maaaring mag-iba ang ating pasya kung hindi naman nagbago ang ebidensya. Our oath is to the Constitution…Let the Constitution prevail,” she said.

“And, finally, we pray that the lane we're treading here be paved with the same moral lines of truth and accountability that our people drew at EDSA 40 years ago…For crossing those moral lines, for desecrating those constitutional boundaries, let us impeach Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte,” De Lima urged.