House panel sees grounds to impeach Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines — While there were fewer topics touched during the final hearing of the House of Representatives’ committee on justice on the two impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte, it was not short on key discussions — ranging from funny soundbites to more serious revelations.

Early on during Wednesday’s hearing, the committee held extensive deliberations on whether they should open the box containing tax records of Duterte and her relatives, which were provided by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) during the previous hearing on April 22.

Several lawmakers — even known allies — expressed different views on whether the box from the BIR should be opened, especially in light of complaints filed by Duterte’s husband Manases Carpio regarding an alleged breach of privacy and bank secrecy laws when the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) reported covered and suspicious transactions made by the couple.

According to Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima — the lawmaker who moved to open the box — it is within the mandate of the panel to examine the contents as it is “relevant to the issues at hand, to the ground of unexplained wealth.”

De Lima’s ally in the Minority, Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, voted against opening the box, noting that the House panel is only reviewing evidence to determine whether there is probable cause to impeach Duterte.

“If we are talking about probable cause, for me, the evidence is there; it is enough already to determine [probable cause] without opening that box,” he said.

“For once, I think we have disagreements,” Diokno added, referring to him having separate views with de Lima.

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr., a co-endorser of one of fourth impeachment complaints, also shared Diokno’s sentiments, saying that it should be kept sealed and left to the Senate impeachment court’s discretion.

Later on, 38 lawmakers voted against opening the box, while only six supported de Lima’s motion.

Stealing the show

But in the middle of discussions on the tax records from BIR, Sagip party-list Rep. Rodante Marcoleta stole the show after he asked to make a manifestation.  In his statements, Marcoleta dared the committee to open the box from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), which contains Duterte’s tax records.

However, Marcoleta said that like a certain movie character named “Popoy”, the committee must show an “acceptable reason” before opening the box.

“So I dare the committee to open the box, but with a caveat: ensure that you will not violate the law.  And Popoy also said in the movie, ‘I deserve an explanation, I deserve an acceptable reason.’  Please be sure that if you open this, you have an acceptable reason in accordance with the law,” he added.

Marcoleta appeared to refer to the Popoy played by actor John Lloyd Cruz in his movies One More Chance and A Second Chance, which also starred actress Bea Alonzo.

However, the line that Marcoleta mentioned belonged to a character from another actor — Piolo Pascual, during his scene with Toni Gonzaga in 2014 movie Starting Over Again.

This misplaced reference was not lost on Akbayan party-list Rep. Percival Cendaña, who manifested before the committee that Marcoleta got the characters wrong.

“Rep. Marcoleta mentioned earlier a line of Popoy at Basha from the movies.  He attributed that explanation line, that deserve an explanation line, to Popoy.  It is not from Popoy,” Cendaña said.

“This is from Papa P, from Piolo Pascual, in the movie Starting Over Again.  And I hope as we decide on this matter, this will not lead us to starting over again.  Thank you Madam Chair,” she added.

Marcoleta, however, was not the first person within the committee on justice to make references to Popoy.  The character was first mentioned by the committee chairperson herself, Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, in questioning why Duterte’s camp have been asking them to take caution.

Luistro referred to Cruz’ “ingat” catchphrase often seen in a medicine advertisement.

READ: John Lloyd or Piolo? Rep. Marcoleta quotes wrong movie in manifestation

Eventually, FPJ Panday Bayanihan party-list Rep. Brian Poe appealed to his colleagues to refrain from using pop culture references since the discussions are serious in nature.

VPSPG under probe

Eventually, the committee discussed the allegations that Duterte threatened President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, asking the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to authenticate videos of the Vice President.

Duterte’s threats were made during an online press conference in the early morning of November 23, 2024.  She went live after visiting her chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, who was detained at the House premises during that time.

Duterte was infuriated over Lopez’s detention, prompting her to badmouth the Marcos couple and Romualdez.  After this, Duterte allayed fears about her security, saying that she had contracted an assassin to kill the three if she herself gets killed.

READ: Sara Duterte’s kill remark vs Marcos is ‘active threat’ – Palace

Eventually, NBI Director Melvin Matibag confirmed that the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) is part of a follow-up investigation they are conducting.

Matibag said this when Luistro asked why there was another investigation when the previous one had been finished and became the basis of complaints against Duterte.  In response, the NBI chief said there was a need to do surveillance on individuals close to the Vice President — the VPSPG in particular.

Luistro then asked for a clarification as to why the VPSPG is being included in the investigation.  In response, Matibag said they have to check every possible method for Duterte to contact an assassin — and this includes VPSPG which is composed of both active and former military officers.

One more hearing day?

Cagayan de Oro Rep. Lordan Suan and 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez appealed for one more hearing date, to ensure that the committee gives Duterte the due process to reply.

However, this was rebuffed by several lawmakers, including Luistro and de Lima, who both said that the committee has already extended a lot of chances for Duterte to respond.

Eventually, Luistro opened the floor for any motion on whether to declare the existence or absence of probable cause to impeach Duterte.  Initially Pinoy Workers party-list Rep. Franz Vincent Legazpi moved to declare the third impeachment complaint as having probable cause.

The motion was seconded, and no one objected to the motion — deeming it approved.  However, Luistro asked for a nominal vote to check how many lawmakers agree with the motion.

A total of 53 lawmakers voted in favor of the motion, with no one opposing and abstaining.

Legazpi also made the same motion for the fourth complaint, and it was also approved unanimously.  Luistro asked for the same nominal vote, and it also yielded 53 lawmakers voting in affirmative and with no negative votes or abstentions.

Prior to Wednesday’s hearing, two clarificatory hearings have been held regarding the grounds stated in the two remaining impeachment complaints.  Last April 14, the panel discussed allegations of confidential fund (CF) misuse within Duterte’s offices.

Some of the revelations made during the April 14 hearing were contained in the supplemental affidavit of Ramil Madriaga, Duterte’s former aide.

According to Madriaga, Duterte supposedly ordered her in December 2022 to coordinate with Col. Dennis Nolasco about delivering cash to allies in San Pablo, Laguna; a comedy bar in Quezon City, and the Office of the Ombudsman parking lot as a way of “returning a favor.”

Madriaga said four large duffle bags were unloaded from the vehicles, three of them were dark and one was light-colored — containing around P30 million to P35 million each.

This is believed to be the P125 million confidential fund in 2022, which Madriaga said he liquidated in one day and not the reported 11 days.

READ: Madriaga: OVP’s 2022 secret funds spent in 1 day, not 11 days

On April 22, the panel tackled accusations that Duterte has unexplained wealth.  At one point during the hearings, Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) Executive Director Buenaventura confirmed that they saw covered and suspicious transactions made by Duterte and her relatives, like her husband Manases Carpio.

READ: AMLC confirms suspicious transactions made by Sara Duterte, kin 

Later in the day, Mamamayang Liberal party-list Rep. Leila de Lima randomly picked 18 transactions posted in Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s affidavit against Duterte, asking if this would match the records at AMLC’s hand.

Eventually, Buenaventura said that while they cannot divulge information about the nature of the transfers, 18 out of the 18 transactions identified by de Lima were confirmed to be part of AMLC’s records.

Initially, four impeachment complaints were filed against Duterte, but only two raps remain after the first from the Makabayan Coalition was set aside for allegedly being violative of the one-year bar rule, while the second complaint was withdrawn by petitioners from Tindig Pilipinas.

The third complaint from clergy members and lawyers, and the fourth complaint from lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera, were declared sufficient in substance last March 4.  The grounds of the complaints were then declared sufficient on March 25. /jpv