The declaration of sufficiency in substance on the impeachment complaints formally advances the impeachment process at the House of Representatives.

Photo from her Facebook page shows Vice President Sara Duterte filing a case against Ramil Madriaga at the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office on March 4, 2026.

The House committee on justice on Wednesday, March 4, declared the two impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte sufficient in substance.

With 54 affirmative votes, one negative vote of Quezon City 4th district Rep. Bong Suntay and zero abstentions, the justice panel led by Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville Luistro declared that the third impeachment complaint filed by a group led by Father Joel Saballa and the fourth by lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera are sufficient in substance.

The justice committee gave Duterte 10 calendar days upon receipt of the complaints to comment on them. Duterte’s camp said they would still study the complaints.

On Monday, March 3, the justice panel deemed both complaints sufficient in form.

The declaration of sufficiency in substance on the impeachment complaints formally advances the impeachment process at the House of Representatives.

The Saballa complaint, endorsed by House senior deputy minority leader and ML party-list Rep. Leila de Lima, cites the alleged misuse of about P612.5 million in confidential funds and claims of corruption at the Department of Education when Duterte was DepEd secretary. It also revives accusations that she threatened to have President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and former speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated if she herself would be killed.

The fourth complaint, filed by lawyer Cabrera and endorsed by Deputy Speaker and La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V and Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., centers on alleged omissions in Duterte’s statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) and claims of unexplained wealth disproportionate to lawful income.

Once the Vice President submits her answer, the committee will proceed to the next phase of hearings to determine whether probable cause exists to approve Articles of Impeachment.

If the committee later finds probable cause, the approved Articles of Impeachment will be transmitted to the House plenary.

On Monday, the justice panel voted 22-10 and set aside the first impeachment complaint filed on Feb. 2 by former lawmakers and activist groups and endorsed by the Makabayan bloc, ruling that it fell within the Constitution’s one-year bar rule.

During the hearing, the justice panel also approved the withdrawal of the complaint filed by Tindig Pilipinas co-convenor Kiko Aquino Dee et al., narrowing the active cases to two.

In a statement, Duterte’s lawyer Michael Poa said “they will refrain from discussing the substance of the case in the media and will instead address these matters through the proper constitutional processes.”

In an ambush interview in Taguig, Duterte said she did not monitor the justice panel proceedings. “I have a lot of work to do, that’s not my priority now,” she said.

Wealth increase

According to public accounts panel chair Terry Ridon, Duterte’s wealth increased by P70 million or 1,200 percent in a span of 16 years, from 2008 to 2024.

The Bicol Saro party-list lawmaker said during the justice panel deliberations that in 2008, the Vice President had a net worth of P18.493 million, which decreased slightly to P18 million in 2009.

“That is the net worth for 2023, P77,508,841 pesos.  This is for 2023, Madam Chair. Can we flash 2024? P88,512,370.22. So we are submitting for the record because these are public records which our colleagues had actually asked for,” Ridon said, as copies of Duterte’s 2023 and 2024 SALNs were flashed onscreen.

Hands off

Meanwhile, Malacañang stressed that President Marcos would not interfere with the deliberations on the impeachment complaints against Duterte even as it maintained that any threat against the Chief Executive is a serious matter.

“A threat to the life of a president is not a joke… Regardless of the condition, the threat is there, it creates fear and anxiety in the person being threatened.

The intimidation is there,” Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said, in response to Suntay’s earlier remark downplaying Duterte’s threats against the First Family.

VP sues self-confessed bagman

As the justice panel hearing continued, the Vice President was in Taguig to file a perjury complaint against her alleged former bagman before the Taguig City Prosecutor’s Office.

Duterte was accompanied by her counsel, Paolo Panelo in the filing of the perjury case against Ramil Madriaga, who claimed that drug lords and Chinese-sponsored Philippine offshore gaming operators bankrolled her campaign for vice president.

The latest impeachment complaint against Duterte made use of Madriaga’s admission that he had personally delivered huge sums of money to Duterte’s chief security aide during the May 2022 presidential elections.

In her 340-page complaint-affidavit, Duterte maintained that there is no truth to any of the statements in the affidavit of Madriaga.

“I have no personal or professional relationship with Madriaga. In fact, prior to the dissemination of the Madriaga Affidavit, I had no recollection of knowing, meeting, or interacting with Madriaga,” Duterte said.

Duterte also denied the claim of Madriaga that former president Rodrigo Duterte introduced him to her.

“My father never mentioned Madriaga to me, whether in the context of a professional assignment or not. Needless to say, Madriaga was never tasked to work for or with me in any capacity when I was mayor of Davao City, or at any other time,” she added.

Año sues ‘ex-Marines’

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año has filed criminal complaints before the Department of Justice (DOJ) against 18 alleged former Marines, lawyer Levi Baligod and former congressman Mike Defensor for linking him to alleged cash deliveries from former Ako Bicol party-list representative and now fugitive Zaldy Co.

Año said the complaints were for violations of Article 154 of the Revised Penal Code, or unlawful use of means of publication and unlawful utterances, as well as Republic Act No. 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.

“They included me in their affidavit and that is really malicious and fabrication and bereft of truth, so I have to protect my name, I have to defend my honor, because I will not sell my name to anyone or to any amount,” he said in an interview.

Año was accused of receiving a paper bag after a meeting at the Polo Club Townhouse with Co, former speaker Romualdez and ML Congresswoman De Lima.

He said he has never attended any meeting with Romualdez, Co and De Lima in that or any other location and that he did not receive any paper bag or package from them either.

Sen. Imee Marcos, a Duterte supporter, questioned Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson’s refusal to hold a Blue Ribbon inquiry into the allegations of the self-confessed ex-Marines, saying “when accusations of such seriousness are made under pain of perjury, the duty of our institution is not to ignore them, but to examine them,” she said.

At the same time, National Bureau of Investigation director Melvin Matibag said the bureau has been deputized by the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the allegations made by the 18 supposed former Marines that they delivered cash to public officials and personalities.

“It turns out to be, upon verification, true (that some are not former Marines). Some of them, in fact, have some criminal cases. We are seeing things like that and we’re looking on the incident itself,” he said in an interview. – With additional reports from Alexis Romero, Bella Cariaso, Daphne Galvez and Marc Jayson Cayabyab