Solon says VP Sara should be in PH for her impeachment trial

Vice President Sara Duterte should be in the Philippines once her impeachment trial starts, Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said on Thursday, March 20, 2025. FILE Photo REUTERS/Eloisa Lopez

MANILA, Philippines  — Vice President Sara Duterte should be in the Philippines once her impeachment trial starts, Lanao del Sur 1st District Representative Zia Alonto Adiong said on Thursday.

During a press briefing at the Batasang Pambansa complex, Adiong and La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V were asked if they think Philippine officials currently in the Hague, the Netherlands, should return to the Philippines once the impeachment trial starts.

Duterte, along with Senator Robinhood Padilla, are currently in the Netherlands to support the Vice President’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, after he was taken into custody by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“I think so. I think she needs to be here, I think she needs to be in the country while the impeachment is ongoing,” Adiong said.

Meanwhile, Ortega said that lawmakers now in the Netherlands would have to come back to the Philippines eventually, as Congress would soon be busy for the 2026 budget season.

“Well, siguro ‘yong mga tao na nandon, na legislators, uuwi ‘yon, budget season eh, kailangan maghanda saka mag-prepare para sa 2026 na budget.  Kailangan na siguraduhin natin na ‘yong mga kailangan po ng mga agencies, saka kailangan na programa, saka proyekto eh mai-ensure natin na may proper po na funding,” Ortega said.

(Well, maybe the people there, the legislators, will come home because of the budget season, they have to prepare for the 2026 budget deliberations.  They need to ensure that the budget needed by agencies and programs and projects are available and properly allocated.)

“Saka alam naman po natin na exercise po ‘yan, highlight po ‘yan ng lower House saka ng Senate.  Other than that kasi ‘yong iba naman personal relationship, family, so magse-stay po talaga siguro sila do’n,” he added.

(This has been an exercise and a highlight of the lower House and the Senate’s duties.  Other than that, other people in the Netherlands are there because they are related (to the former president), so they would likely stay.)

Both Duterte and Padilla are crucial to the impeachment proceedings. Duterte, as the primary accused, may have to attend the trial if the Senate acting as an impeachment court asks her to do so while Padilla will sit as a senator-judge.

The Vice President was impeached by the House last February 5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint, hinged on several issues like alleged misuse of confidential funds lodged within her offices, threats to ranking officials including President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and conduct unbecoming of a Vice President.

The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-third of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 —  have signed and endorsed the petition.

READ: House impeaches VP Sara Duterte, fast-tracking transmittal to Senate

However, the 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.

The alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) were among the seven articles all in all in the verified impeachment complaint.

READ: Duterte’s threats, misuse of secret funds are grounds in 4th complaint 

Previously, Senate President Francis Escudero said that trial would start by July 30 — with the new set of lawmakers after the 2025 midterm elections sitting as senator-judges.

With reports from Keith Irish Margareth Clores, trainee