Bicol Saro Representative and House Committee on Justice minority member Terry Ridon said the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte have sufficient grounds.
Ridon denied Duterte’s claim that the House of Representatives was conducting a “fishing expedition,” saying the complainant lacked enough evidence to support the case.
“This is just not true, because a ‘fishing expedition’ pre-supposes an absolute absence of documentation before proceeding with any impeachment,” the solon said.
“In reality, even if we don’t undertake subpoenas, the impeachment proceedings against the Vice President will, in fact, proceed; it is essentially complete,” he added.
Ridon further explained that the recent motion of Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno of issuing subpoenas was a means of acquiring evidence that could only be requested during the proceedings.
The particular information that Diokno sought to acquire from Duterte—bank records and anti-money laundering council reports—are data that are protected and deemed confidential under the Bank Secrecy Law of 1955.
The solon said that the evidence presented regarding the Commission on Audit reports on Duterte’s use of confidential funds, the video recordings of her verbal threats against President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., the copies of her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth, and the affidavit of alleged “bagman” Ramil Madriaga were all enough to support the need for a hearing.
Among the various issues surrounding the Vice President, Ridon also explained that Duterte had to explain the over P50 million increase in her net worth in 2024, where her income was said to be at P88 million, whereas her cumulative salary was around P30 to P40 million through 2007 to 2023.
As it currently stands, he said that the House was set to wait for the response of the defense on its “sufficient in substance” findings on two of the four impeachment complaints until Monday.
When the VP does respond, he explained that the hearing for sufficiency of basis and grounds will be held on April 8. If not, he noted that the proceedings may begin at an earlier date.
Lawyer-client privilege
Aside from addressing concerns regarding the proceedings itself, Ridon also sought to clarify his call for the House to cease recognition of Michael Wesley Poa and Reynold Munsayac as lawyers in the proceedings.
He said that Poa and Munsayac could be called to serve as witnesses due to their previous positions as members of the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President.
“What we don’t want to see would be a situation where these lawyers would basically state that they are bound within ‘lawyer-client privilege’ when the question being asked to them relate to their actual work,” the solon explained.
The representative also revealed that Madriaga was expected to appear in the process of the proceedings and that he had no convictions, as he was still undertaking criminal proceedings.