'Sufficient in substance': House panel advances impeachment complaints vs Sara Duterte

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March 4, 2026 | 3:21pm

MANILA, Philippines — The House Committee on Justice declared on Wednesday, March 4, that two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte are sufficient in substance, allowing the proceedings to move forward to the next stage.

Four impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte after the one-year constitutional bar lapsed.

The first complaint, filed by the Makabayan bloc, was dismissed because it was submitted before the official lifting of the one-year ban.

The second complaint, endorsed by Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal party-list) and Rep. Percival Cendaña (Akbayan party-list), was later withdrawn to give way to a third complaint.

The third complaint, filed by Rev. Fr. Joel Saballa and other complainants, is considered the most substantial. A fourth complaint filed by lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera raised similar grounds.

Debate at the justice panel hearing

During the hearing, several lawmakers questioned whether the complaints had sufficient basis to proceed.

Rep. Bong Suntay (Quezon City) attempted to argue that one of the allegations — Duterte's public threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez — lacked proof of any action being carried out.

Rep. Bel Zamora (San Juan), however, said that the allegations already had supporting evidence, citing her experience as one of the House prosecutors in a previous impeachment complaint against Duterte.

Rep. Joel Chua (Manila), who chairs the justice committee, reminded lawmakers that the panel's role at this stage was not to determine guilt.

The committee only needed to determine whether the complaints contained sufficient grounds for impeachment proceedings to continue, he said.

Jurisdiction issue raised

Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Cagayan de Oro) later reasoned that many of the allegations stemmed from when Duterte was secretary of the Department of Education, which he said falls outside Congress' impeachment jurisdiction.

Chua responded that Duterte's appointment to the Cabinet was linked to her position as vice president.

As vice president, Duterte did not need confirmation from the Commission on Appointments to serve as education secretary, Chua noted.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno also said Rodriguez's argument could allow Duterte to evade accountability by separating her actions as education secretary from her role as vice president.

Vote outcome. The justice committee voted 54-1 to declare the Saballa and Cabrera complaints sufficient in substance, with Suntay casting the lone dissenting vote.

Duterte has been given 10 days to respond to the complaints as the proceedings move to the pleadings stage.