House asks SecGen to send Duterte impeachment case to Senate

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives has tasked the Office of the Secretary General to prepare and transmit the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the Senate for trial after 257 lawmakers voted in favor of the committee report recommending her removal from office.

During the tail end of the session on Monday, presiding officer and Senior Deputy Speaker Ferdinand Hernandez first manifested a correction in the vote count, as 257 lawmakers voted in the affirmative, instead of the original announcement that 255 members supported the House committee on justice’s Committee Report No. 261.

The negative votes went down by one, from 26 to 25, while abstentions remained at nine.

“But before we continue, the chair would like to manifest that I was informed by the Secretariat of a correction in the result of the nominal voting in House Resolution No. 989 that the body earlier adopted. The correct result is as follows: affirmative, 257 instead of 255; negative, 25 instead of 26; and abstention remains at nine,” Hernandez said.

After this, Senior Deputy Majority Leader Lorenz Defensor moved that the Office of Secretary General Cheloy Garafil prepare the articles of impeachment for transmittal to the Senate.

“Mr. Speaker, I move to endorse to the Senate the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment together with all the annexes, pursuant to the rules of the House on impeachment proceedings,” Defensor said.

“Further, I move that the Secretary General be directed to prepare and transmit the same to the Senate for appropriate action in accordance with the Constitution and the rules of the House,” he added.

Defensor then made another motion tasking Garafil’s office to furnish Duterte, the complainants, and both camps’ lawyers copies of CR No. 261 and House Resolution (HR) No. 989.

“Mr. Speaker, as soon as the articles of impeachment are transmitted, I further move to furnish the respondent, the complainants, and the counsels copies of the committee report and the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment, including its annexes,” he said.

Both motions were approved by Hernandez.

Duterte has been impeached for a second time — marking the first time in the country’s history that an incumbent official has been impeached by the House more than once.

During the plenary session on Monday, House committee on justice chairperson and Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro sponsored CR No. 261, which was distributed to lawmakers last Wednesday.

The impeachment proceedings against Duterte were initiated on Feb. 23, when four complaints were referred to the committee on justice.

The committee then started hearings on March 2, with the panel discussing the sufficiency of the complaints in substance and form. Eventually, the committee decided to set aside the Makabayan Coalition complaint, while Tindig Pilipinas withdrew its petition to avoid legal complexities arising from the filing date.

On March 4, the committee found the two remaining complaints sufficient in form and substance, prompting the panel to send formal notices to Duterte to give her camp the chance to answer the allegations. On March 16, 2026, Duterte beat the deadline and sent a consolidated answer ad cautelam, but the complainants deemed it a non-answer.

After the complainants said they would no longer reply to Duterte’s answer, the committee on March 18 proceeded to determine the sufficiency of the grounds cited. After sufficient grounds were established, the committee held a hearing on March 25 to issue subpoenas for potential witnesses and documents that may be used as evidence.

Three clarificatory hearings were held before the justice panel unanimously voted on April 29 in favor of motions to declare the existence of probable cause. The secretariat said all 53 members present voted in the affirmative.

READ: House justice panel finds probable cause to impeach Sara Duterte

On May 4, 55 members of the committee voted to approve the committee report.

READ: Luistro: Justice panel may approve Sara Duterte impeach report by May 4

According to CR No. 261, the two complaints were consolidated into four grounds:

• culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust through the systematic liquidation misuse, misappropriation, and irregular of confidential funds amounting to P500 million under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and P112.5 million under the Department of Education (DepEd)
• culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust when Duterte amassed unexplained wealth manifestly disproportionate to her lawful income and earnings during her incumbency as a public official
• bribery, graft and corruption, culpable violation of the Constitution, and betrayal of public trust when she gave monetary gifts or payments to DepEd officials to induce the violation and circumvention of procurement and other related laws
• culpable violation of the Constitution, high crimes, and betrayal of public trust by contracting for the assassination of the President, the First Lady, and the former speaker of the House, by making grave threats, and by actively inciting sedition against the republic

/mcm