Despite survey lead, Sara Duterte impeachment trial must go on 鈥� solon
Vice President Sara Duterte. File photo
MANILA, Philippines — The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is a constitutional duty that should continue regardless of what surveys for the 2028 presidential race show, Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro said on Friday.
During an interview with reporters covering the House of Representatives, Luistro was asked about a WR Numero survey released earlier which showed that 30.2 percent of Filipino adults preferred Duterte as their next president for 2028.
Duterte, however, will be facing a trial at the Senate after she was impeached by the House last February 5 due to alleged confidential fund (CF) misuse and threats to ranking officials, including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
“Well, what I can say about the survey where the Vice President topped among the presidential polls, no, we have a constitutional duty to do. So regardless of the survey, as to who is the most preferred presidentiable for the 2028 election, I honestly believe that we have to push through with the impeachment process,” Luistro, who is a member of the House prosecution panel, said.
“We have explained this before, there is an impeachment complaint supported by 215 members of the House and as part of the prosecution team, it is our constitutional duty to push through with the prosecution of the Vice President, with respect to the impeachment complaint that was filed against her,” she added.
Impeachment proceedings
Luistro hopes the impeachment proceedings will help the people decide who is fit to be the next president of the country. The lawmaker also believes it is a chance for Duterte to clarify the accusations against her.
“Well, this will help the Filipino people decide on who really is to be supported as the next president of the Philippines. Because, of course, we want a president who will lead the country and Filipinos in the proper direction,” she said in Filipino.
“I think this is an opportunity also for the Vice President to clear herself from all the allegations as included in the impeachment complaint. Since 2024 that was last year, we have been talking about the misuse of confidential funds, the betrayal of public trust, the payola envelope ng DepEd (Department of Education) and other allegations as stated in the impeachment complaint,” she added.
Duterte and her officials’ actions were scrutinized at the House Committee on Good Government Accountability hearings, which started in September 2024, after issues regarding the CF usage of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and DepEd were unearthed.
At one point in the hearings, Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop — also a member of the prosecution panel — noticed that one of the acknowledgment receipts (ARs) for the OVP’s CF expenditures was signed by a certain Mary Grace Piattos, whom he said bears a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.
ARs are proof of payment, or that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries. And in the case of OVP and DepEd, these are informants who provided confidential information to authorities.
Different handwritings
Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by Villamin. However, the signatures and handwriting used by the Villamin in the two documents differed.
Both Piattos and Villamin’s names did not appear on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.
READ: House probe: OVP, DepEd CFs received by same man, different signatures
Over the past few months, lawmakers, particularly La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V and members of the panel have revealed that there were more peculiar names on ARs. That includes seemingly combined names of grocery items and other names that sounded like a phone brand: Xiaome Ocho.
READ: Piattos’ kin, ‘Xiaome Ocho’ also got VP Sara Duterte’s funds – Ortega
Last Sunday, Ortega released the most-recent batch of weird names in ARs — including multiple “Fionas” which refers to a character from fantasy film Shrek; a “Magellan”, which refers to Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan who landed in Leyte in 1521; and another individual with the surname “Ewan”, which is a Filipino slang for “I don’t know.”
READ: ‘Magellan,’ ‘Fiona’ found on list of VP Duterte secret fund recipients
Duterte was impeached by the House last February 5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint. The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-thirds of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.
Under the Constitution, the Senate will act as an impeachment court with sitting senators being judges.
However, trial has yet to start as the articles of impeachment were not forwarded to the Senate plenary before session ended on February 5 — which means that Congress would have to reconvene first after the election season, or through a special session to discuss the matter.
