(UPDATE) A THIRD impeachment complaint was filed at the House of Representatives on Monday against Vice President Sara Duterte.
The complainants, which included priests and lawyers, alleged, among others, that she committed culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayed the public trust in connection with confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President for 2022 and 2023 and confidential funds allocated for 2023 to the Department of Education, which she led as secretary before she resigned from that post in 2024.
“We have nothing further to add beyond the statement we issued last week. The filing of additional complaints was anticipated by the defense team,” Duterte’s lawyer, Michael Poa, said on Monday.
“For now, we will continue to closely monitor developments and address these complaints through the appropriate constitutional processes,” Poa said.
On Feb. 5, the two impeachment complaints earlier filed against Duterte were transmitted by the House secretary general’s office to Speaker Faustino Dy III’s office for appropriate action.
“We are prepared to confront these allegations squarely through the proper constitutional processes, confident that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis,” Poa, speaking for Duterte’s defense team, said in a statement on Feb. 2, 2026.
House Deputy Minority Leader and Mamamayang Liberal Rep. Leila de Lima endorsed the impeachment complaint filed on Monday. This complaint was “an improved version” of the impeachment articles that the House sent to the Senate in the previous Congress, she said.
In February 2025, the House impeached Duterte over alleged misuse of confidential funds. However, the Supreme Court declared the impeachment articles unconstitutional, saying they violated the rule that banned the filing of more than one impeachment case against an official in one year.
Before the House impeached Duterte, three other impeachment complaints were filed at the House but only the fourth was sent on to the Senate.
The House of Representatives filed a motion for reconsideration, but the Supreme Court denied its motion, saying “the fourth impeachment complaint transmitted to the Senate on February 5, 2025 was already barred by Article XI, Section 3, subsection (5) of the Constitution.”
