House panel finds probable cause on two complaints to impeach Vice President

The entire House of Representatives will vote on May 11 whether to impeach or not the vice president. A one-third vote is needed to send the impeachment complaints to trial at the 24-member Senate.

Vice President Sara Duterte attending a pop-up exhibit in San Pedro, Laguna, on Wednesday, April 29, which coincided with the House hearing on impeachment complaints against her. Photo from Inday Sara Duterte Facebook page.

Manuel Mogato | April 30, 2026

MANILA — Voting 53-0, the House Committee on Justice found probable cause on two complaints to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio after a lengthy deliberations that lasted more than a month.

The House panel has set another committee meeting next week to prepare a set of articles of impeachment to charge the Vice President with culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of trust, and other crimes, including bribery, unexplained wealth, and threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

“These are serious crimes,” Congresswoman Leila de Lima said, summarizing the complaints, which she said would benefit Duterte-Carpio if the president is killed.

The entire House of Representatives will vote on May 11 whether to impeach or not the vice president. A one-third vote is needed to send the impeachment complaints to trial at the 24-member Senate.

The lower house deliberated the complaints against the vice president for misuse of the 625 million pesos in confidential funds, bribery, unexplained wealth, and grave threats and inciting to sedition.

The House panel was shocked to hear from a resource person that the vice president was able to dispose 125 million pesos in less than 24 hours in December 2022, not 11 days as earlier reported.

The Commission on Audit has also ordered Duterte to return more than 400 million pesos in confidential and intelligence funds she misused in 2022 and 2023.

The Anti-Money Laundering Council also found more than 600 covered and suspicious transactions in the vice president’s bank accounts from 2007 to 2026, which amounted to 6.7 billion pesos when she only reported a net worth of 88 million pesos. (Also read: “I delivered cash for the Vice President”)

Finally, the National Bureau of Investigation has authenticated a 2024 video showing the vice president threatening to kill the president, his wife, and cousin, the former house speaker.

Duterte skipped all the House hearings but denied all the charges in statements in social media platforms. (Also read: Vice President runs to the Supreme Court to stop impeachment)

Manila Congressman Benny Abante said the vice president was given time to counter all the allegations but chose to waive her right to due process.

“We respected her office but she did not respect this panel by choosing not to show up,” he added.

Last year, the House voted to impeach the vice president but there was no trial at the Senate when the Supreme Court intervened to stop the impeachment process due to technicality.

Congress is confident that the high court will no longer intervene after observing the flaws found last year in the political process.

Duterte and her lawyers had filed four court petitions to stop the impeachment proceedings but all remained pending. The courts also did not issue temporary restraining order to stop the impeachment process.

There were several impeachment cases in the legislature but only one resulted in the removal of the chief Justice of the Supreme Court.