April 30, 2026
MANILA – The House committee on justice has found probable cause to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, after three clarificatory hearings on the two complaints under the panel’s jurisdiction.
During the hearing, the committee finished discussing allegations that Duterte threatened to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez.
After the committee finished tackling this, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, the committee chairperson, heard motions to declare the existence of probable cause.
Pinoy Workers party-list Rep. Franz Vincent Legazpi moved to declare the third impeachment complaint as having probable cause.
The motion was seconded, and no one objected to the motion, deeming it approved.
However, Luistro asked for a nominal vote to check whether there is a majority of lawmakers who agree with the motion.
A total of 53 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, with no one opposing or abstaining.
Legazpi also made the same motion for the fourth complaint, and it was also approved unanimously.
Before Wednesday’s hearing, two clarificatory hearings were held regarding the grounds stated in the two remaining impeachment complaints.
Last April 14, the panel discussed allegations of confidential fund (CF) misuse within Duterte’s offices.
Some of the revelations made during the April 14 hearing were contained in the supplemental affidavit of Ramil Madriaga, Duterte’s former aide.
According to Madriaga, Duterte supposedly ordered her in December 2022 to coordinate with Col. Dennis Nolasco about delivering cash to allies in San Pablo, Laguna; to a comedy bar in Quezon City; and to the Office of the Ombudsman parking lot as a way of “returning a favor.”
Madriaga said four large duffel bags were unloaded from the vehicles, three of them were dark, and one was light-colored, containing around P30 million to P35 million each.
This is believed to be the P125 million confidential fund in 2022, which Madriaga said he liquidated in one day, and not the reported 11 days.
READ: Madriaga: OVP’s 2022 secret funds spent in 1 day, not 11 days
On April 22, the panel tackled accusations that Duterte has unexplained wealth.
At one point during the hearings, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Buenaventura confirmed that they saw covered and suspicious transactions made by Duterte and her relatives, like her husband, Manases Carpio.
READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin
Later in the day, Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 transactions posted in Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV’s affidavit against Duterte, asking if these matched the records at AMLC’s hand.
Eventually, Buenaventura said that while they cannot divulge information about the nature of the transfers, 18 out of the 18 transactions identified by de Lima were confirmed to be part of AMLC’s records.
Initially, four impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte, but only two remain after the first from the Makabayan Coalition was set aside for allegedly being violative of the one-year bar rule, while the second complaint was withdrawn by petitioners from Tindig Pilipinas.
The third complaint from clergy members and lawyers, and the fourth complaint from lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera, were declared sufficient in substance last March 4.
The grounds of the complaints were then declared sufficient on March 25.
Six grounds were mentioned in the third complaint:
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount over P500 million CF allocated to the Office of the Vice President from 2022 to 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in amassing and converting the amount of not less than P112.5 million of confidential funds allocated to the Department of Education (DepEd) for the year 2023
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust by corrupting and bribing officials of the DepEd
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes in contracting to murder or assassinate the president, the first lady, and the former speaker of the House
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her SALN
- Alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust in committing acts of political destabilization and the high crimes of sedition and insurrection
The fourth rap mentions seven grounds that were similar to the impeachment complaint that was filed by 215 lawmakers last Feb. 5, 2025:
- Alleged culpable violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes due to the assassination plot, sedition, and subversion of constitutional order
- Alleged betrayal of public trust, graft, and corruption due to the misuse and malversation of CF allocations
- Alleged graft and corruption, bribery, procurement irregularities and command responsibility due to her disbursement of public funds to unauthorized recipients
- Alleged bribery, procurement irregularities and related corruption for bribing DepEd officials through monetary gifts
- Alleged unexplained wealth, SALN violations, bank records and financial forensics
- Alleged high crimes, pattern of abuse, threats, incitement and interference with civilian supremacy
- Alleged pattern of abuse and cumulative misconduct doctrine /apl /atm