Luistro: Sara Duterte also trying to ‘gaslight’ House panel

House justice panel chair and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro addresses the panel during the hearing on impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. —PHOTO SCREEN GRAB

MANILA, Philippines — The chairperson of the House panel evaluating the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte not only noted her continuing absence in the proceedings but also took issue with how she had chosen to respond to the accusations through press statements and social media posts.

For Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, it seemed that Duterte was not only “ghosting” or ignoring the House committee on justice but also “gaslighting” it.

In her remarks opening Wednesday’s hearing, Luistro recalled that the last hearing on April 14 had a key witness, Ramil Madriaga, testifying about the cash deliveries he made on Duterte’s orders in December 2022, with the money allegedly drawn from her confidential funds.

‘Peripheral matter’

But instead of answering the accusation that she misused the funds, Luistro said, Duterte opted to respond to a “peripheral matter”—Madriaga’s disparaging description of how she managed to finish law.

READ: Over 600 transactions of Sara Duterte worth P6.7B flagged by AMLC

“It is worth noting that instead of addressing the core issues, the focus shifted to a peripheral matter—the supposed academic performance of the Vice President when she was still studying. And yet the more serious matters about the confidential funds… have yet to be addressed directly,” she said.

“In other words, out of a hundred pieces of evidence, only one was disputed,” she added.

Important question

It seemed that Duterte, she said, not only “ghosted” or ignored the House committee but also tried to “gaslight” it by steering the discussion toward a trivial issue.

“The important question was ‘where did the money go?’ but the answer we got was about grades in college. And worst part? This explanation is not being made here but everywhere else,” she said.

The Vice President and allied lawyers have filed separate petitions asking the Supreme Court to stop the House impeachment proceedings, citing alleged violations of due process.

But with the high tribunal yet to issue the restraining order sought by the petitioners, the committee is expected to hold its last hearing on the impeachment complaints on April 29 for the determination of probable cause. /cb