House moves toward VP trial

The effort to oust Vice President Sara Duterte shifted into high gear on Wednesday after the House Committee on Justice declared the two impeachment complaints against her sufficient in form and substance.

The impeachment proceedings now move to the hearing stage, where a mini-trial is set to begin its first official session next Wednesday, 25 March.

Committee chairperson and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro made the declaration, acting on the motions of Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor and Deputy Speaker Janette Garin, which drew no objection from the other panel members.

Notably, Quezon City 4th District Representative Jesus Suntay, the lone objector to the two complaints in a previous session, was not present at the hearing, having been asked to appear before the ethics panel for his remarks made at that session that were deemed inappropriate.

A political analyst said the House strategy is to pin down Vice President Duterte in chamber proceedings, with the case unlikely to reach a full Senate trial.

The lawmakers noted that the response from the Vice President’s camp failed to directly address the complaints in both cases but questioned instead the committee’s procedures.

The hearing on the sufficiency of the grounds for impeachment lasted just a little over an hour.

Kabataan Partylist Representative Renee Co said Duterte failed to appropriately answer the allegations in her submitted response.

“The reason this was quick was because there was no answer. She had a response, ad cautelam, with caution, but there was no answer to the allegations in the third and fourth impeachment complaints. Her answer was a non-answer,” Co said.

“Therefore, the allegations remain standing in the third and fourth complaints that the House Committee on Justice previously found sufficient in form and substance,” she added.

Recycled raps

The allegations against Duterte include the misuse of confidential funds when she was the secretary of education, making public threats to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former Speaker Martin Romualdez, bribery and other high crimes.

The Justice Committee also granted the petition of Akbayan Partylist Representative Chel Diokno for the House to gain protective custody of the supposed “bagman” of the Vice President, Ramil Madriaga, who is set to be a witness in upcoming proceedings.

Security head protests

Meanwhile, the former head of the Vice Presidential Security Group has pushed back against allegations linking him to POGOs and drug money.

Col. Raymund Dante Lachica said in a statement that the allegations of Madriaga were repeated in public “without credible evidence.”

“The accusations linking me to POGO money, drug money, and other irregularities are completely baseless,” Lachica said.

Madriaga, an alleged former aide and bagman of Duterte, claimed in a notarized affidavit in November 2025 that he was instructed to deliver large sums of money to certain individuals, including Lachica.