VP Sara urged: Name those who say there’s impeachment brewing

Vice President Sara Duterte —File photo

MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers urged Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday to name whoever is telling her that an impeachment complaint is being discussed at the House of Representatives, insisting again that there is none in the works.

La Union Rep. Paolo Ortega V during the press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa said the Vice President can identify who these people are so that it can be proven if the information indeed came from the House.

Ortega said this after Duterte insisted on Tuesday that an impeachment complaint against her is being discussed at the House — adding that her friends within the legislative chamber, who are just afraid to talk, have given this information.

READ: VP Sara bares solons openly discuss her impeachment

“Maybe she can identify her friends who said these so that these friends of her can say if they really got their information from the grapevine. Because here in the House of Representatives, that was not discussed,” he said.

Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin meanwhile also said that she has not heard of any possible impeachment raps against the Vice President.

READ: House leaders reiterate: No plan to impeach VP Duterte

“So much time is wasted on discussions that are senseless, and to things that are not really happening. There is much to do here in Congress, and everyone is busy scrutinizing and passing the proposed budget,” Garin said.

Vested interest or just trickery

“Whoever spreads rumors, maybe she could tell us their names so that we can know if they have vested interests, or if they are trying to trick our Vice President, or if they only want fireworks because they have nothing to do,” she added.

In a briefing on Tuesday, after attending the Senate deliberations on the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed 2025 budget, Duterte said that her possible impeachment is “openly discussed” in the House.

READ: Panel to COA: Submit audit reports on OVP, DepEd, including secret funds

Duterte said that even if House lawmakers deny this, her friends inside have informed her about this.

Duterte also said that she had already expected this “playbook”, claiming that even the House quad-committee hearings supposedly targeting her relatives are a form of political harassment.

This, however, is not the first time that talks about Duterte’s impeachment surfaced. In a previous livestream on Facebook, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said an impeachment complaint is being cooked against the Vice President.

Different House leaders however have denied this repeatedly. On Tuesday, Deputy Majority Leader and ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo said that the meeting in Malacañang on Monday night was not about an impeachment complaint, as only the Marcos administration’s slate for the 2025 senatorial race was discussed.

Last August 13, Ako Bicol party-list Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon said that while he has not heard of any possible impeachment against Duterte, it would not be a surprise if someone actually files a complaint with the Vice President’s recent activities.

READ: VP Sara impeachment? Solons say it’s unheard of, but not surprising

Using COA issue ‘premature’

House lawmakers also believe that linking a Commission on Audit (COA) report on the confidential funds (CF) used by Duterte’s offices—the OVP and the previously, the Department of Education—as grounds for impeachment complaints are way too premature.

Garin said that while the House committee on appropriations has asked COA for a copy of the reports, these should be discussed by the time these findings are now available.

“Let’s cross the bridge when it comes. In my opinion, the intention is that there would be no repeat of a possible misuse of confidential funds,” Garin said.

Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong meanwhile said that impeachment complaints are unproductive as it counters the House’s goal of pushing for progress.

“Impeachment is not only divisive but also counterproductive. It counters the things that we do here in the House of Representatives. We are aiming to really push for the progress of our country, economically, socially, and in terms of peace and order,” he said.

Last August 13, COA was ordered to provide the appropriations panel a copy of the CF usage reports of OVP and DepEd, following concerns on how these were spent.

This is not the first time that Duterte’s offices were scrutinized for its CF use. In 2023, when the House was discussing the then-proposed 2024 budget, Duterte came under fire after it was revealed that the office spent P125 million worth of CF in just 11 days in 2022.

What aggravated the lawmakers’ concern was that the CF in 2022 did not exist under the original budget of the OVP, which was crafted when former vice president Leni Robredo was still in office.

Eventually, the House decided to strip civilian agencies, OVP and DepEd included, of its CF requests for the 2024 budget — allocating these instead to agencies securing the West Philippine Sea. —with reports from Arianne Denisse Cagsawa, trainee