MANILA, Philippines — The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte said that her impeachment complaint should be dismissed for being "fundamentally flawed" while also answering the four articles filed by the House of Representatives against her.
In her reply dated May 25, 2026 and which was uploaded to the Senate's impeachment website, Duterte's camp said that the entire impeachment process in the House of Representatives Committee on Justice "were tainted by evident bad faith.".
The defense also said that the House has usurped the power of the Senate by conducting a "mini trial" or a "fishing expedition" to build a case, rather than just initiating it.
The reply also included the answers to the four articles of impeachment that were filed against the Vice President.
On the first article over the misuse of confidential funds, the defense denied any culpable violation of the constitution or graft regarding the use of the funds, noting that the findings of the Commission on Audit are not yet final and no evidence exists showing she personally gained from these funds
The defense also said that the allegations regarding her unexplained wealth, which is in the second article, involved her time as mayor and vice mayor of Davao City which are "non impeachable offenses."
They also said that the inclusion of the assets of her spouse, lawyer Manases Carpio, was a "malicious attempt to manufacture unexplained wealth" and that the data used violated bank secrecy laws.
The defense also denied giving monetary gifts to officials of the Department of Education to circumvent procurement laws, which was outlined in the third article of bribery, saying that the prosecution misrepresented witness testimony to "lend color" to the accusation.
It also said that Duterte's statement that she hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former speaker Martin Romualdez, was part of her freedom of speech against the administration's policies and should not be constituted as a crime.
The defense also included a motion to exclude evidence, noting that much were attached to the articles that were obtained through "constitutionally impermissible means" during the justice committee's "fishing expedition" and should therefore be excluded as "fruit of the poisonous tree."
Her camp concluded that the articles of impeachment failed to meet the constitutional requirements for an impeachment proceeding and lacked sufficient factual or legal bases, thus praying for its dismissal.
