The House Committee on Justice, through a unanimous vote of its 55 members, approved yesterday its report and resolution setting the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, clearing the way for a plenary vote likely next week.
The report consolidates two verified complaints and outlines four Articles of Impeachment approved as amended: misuse or abuse of confidential funds; unexplained wealth; bribery and graft and corruption; and threats involving an alleged plot against the President, the First Lady and the former House Speaker.
According to Rep. Terry Ridon, chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts and a member of the justice panel, Duterte is expected to be impeached next week during the plenary vote.
Ridon said plenary debates will be conducted this week before the vote expected on Monday, May 11.
“We’re expecting the VP to be impeached next week. The 106 votes needed is all but certain,” said Ridon, a lawyer by profession.
In an earlier interview, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Upper Chamber will likely convene as an impeachment court on May 13 if the Articles of Impeachment are transmitted by the House on May 12.
“We will convene the following day as an impeachment court…We have to do our job. We have to be impartial. We will act on it forthwith,” Sotto said.
Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson said the actual trial may commence by June as the Upper Chamber will still have a pre-trial.
The pre-trial will cover the issuance of summonses and replies, as well as the holding of a preliminary conference aimed at establishing stipulations and possibly marking evidence before the actual trial commences, Lacson said.
The Articles of Impeachment accused Duterte of a range of acts, including the misuse and irregular liquidation of confidential funds totaling at least P500 million in the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million in the Department of Education; amassing unexplained wealth and failing to fully disclose these in her Statements of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth; bribery and corruption involving officials under her authority; contracting or soliciting acts of violence, including alleged threats against top government officials; and acts of political destabilization and abuse of power.
The committee report cited audit findings from the Commission on Audit, financial data flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council, and testimonies from officials and witnesses, including forensic document examiners and government auditors.
For her part, Mamamayang Liberal Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima said now that the impeachment case against the Vice President has been condensed into four articles that cover all the grounds raised against her, even one conviction before the Senate is enough to remove her from office and permanently disqualify her from public office.
De Lima, a member of the House justice panel, said: “If it reaches the Senate and a trial is held, and during judgment of the judges of the impeachment court, even if they uphold only one article and convict VP Sara, that should be enough to really convict her and then to remove her from office and to permanently disqualify her to hold further public office.”
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated. Originally posted with the headline “House justice panel backs VP Sara impeachment.”
