The House Committee on Justice will apply the same constitutional standards used in evaluating impeachment complaints against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. when it takes up the cases filed against Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, panel chair Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro of Batangas said.
Luistro made the statement after the plenary adopted the committee’s findings dismissing two impeachment complaints against the President for insufficiency in substance last Tuesday.
“The people of the Philippines are assured na kung anong naging parameter, anong naging deliberation, anong naging approach ng Justice Committee in handling the impeachment complaints against the President will be adopted for the purpose of evaluating and determining as well the sufficiency in form and substance with respect to the impeachment complaints against the Vice President,” Luistro said.
She clarified, however, that the Justice Committee has yet to acquire jurisdiction over the complaints against the Vice President, as none has been referred to the panel by the plenary.
“But right now wala pa sa Justice Committee. That’s why we haven’t seen yet these impeachment complaints. I heard tatlo na, but we haven’t seen any of those,” Luistro said.
Under House rules, impeachment complaints must first be included in the Order of Business and referred by the plenary before the Justice Committee can act.
“It needs to be referred first by the plenary to the Justice Committee the impeachment complaints na ito, either 1, 2 or 3 of them para magkaroon po ng jurisdiction ang Justice Committee to act on this,” she explained.
Luistro said the number of complaints that may be taken up is for the plenary to determine.
She also explained that the complaints against the Vice President were not taken up last Monday because they were still with the Office of the Speaker.
According to Luistro, the Office of the Speaker has 10 session days to include impeachment complaints in the Order of Business. The plenary then has three session days to refer them to the Justice Committee.
“Hangga’t di yan nari-refer sa justice committee, wala pang jurisdiction ang justice committee over those impeachment complaints against the Vice President,” she said.
Failure to act within the prescribed period could trigger the operation of a Supreme Court ruling on impeachment timing, she warned.
“the speaker should include it in the order of business ’yung mga impeachment complaints na ’yun not later than March 2 of 2026 otherwise mago-operate iyong resolution ng [SC],” Luistro said.
Three impeachment complaints have been filed against Vice President Duterte. The first two, filed by members of the Makabayan bloc and by a coalition of civil society groups and lawyers, allege betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution over the alleged misuse of confidential funds during her tenure as Vice President and Education secretary.
A third complaint, filed by another group of lawyers and religious leaders, raises similar accusations, including alleged violations of transparency and accountability requirements related to confidential funds.
Luistro said the timing of the filing of impeachment complaints may also become a key issue, citing differing Supreme Court pronouncements on the one-year ban rule.
“Now we have to decide first when are we really allowed to file the second impeachment. Is it the 6 February as expressed in the original decision of 25 July 2025 or is it 15 January 2026 as implied in the resolution of 28 January 2026?” she said.
She added that the issue would be resolved within constitutional bounds once the committee acquires jurisdiction.
“Yeah, I am actually anticipating a very passionate debate on that when we start on the deliberation before the Justice Committee,” Luistro said.