Dennis Gasgonia

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Vivienne Gulla

ABS-CBN News

MANILA - The National Unity Party will allow its members at the House of Representatives to vote on the impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte based on their conscience, according to NUP Chairperson and Antipolo City 1st District Rep. Ronaldo Puno. He made the clarification on Thursday, after the NUP released a statement on Wednesday night saying it will “most likely” not support Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment if no “compelling new evidence” emerges.“No, this is not the party stand. This is just the consensus of the ones that I have talked to. We will have another formal meeting. I doubt that there will be a uniform party stand here. Because there is just too much division among our members,” Puno said.“The direction now is that we probably will have parang a conscience vote, that everybody will be allowed to vote the way he wants to vote. There is no clear bias or leaning towards either side at this point. So, we are very divided right now. So, we ended up with, sige, let&#x27;s see what the evidence will show,” he added.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/24/house-panel-eyes-march-2-start-of-deliberations-on-vp-sara-impeachment-raps-1719">House panel eyes March 2 start of deliberations on VP Sara impeachment raps</a></div>“We do not penalize our members for expressing their opinion. We penalize our members when there is a party stand that is agreed upon by everybody, and they do not hold to it. And the only penalty naman we impose is they can leave the party. Kasi kung ayaw naman nila maniwala sa pinag-usapan na namin, edi okay lang. But no, we don&#x27;t penalize people for expressing their beliefs or having beliefs different from the others in the party,” Puno noted.In a statement, the second largest voting bloc at the House of Representatives said it has yet to see “new and material evidence that would warrant a departure from issues that have already been the subject of prior inquiries and extensive public hearings”. Still, the party noted that it remains prepared to assess any new evidence presented before the House panel.“Iniinsist pa rin namin that it has to be new evidence. Because in the old evidence, we do not see that there is evidence that any of the confidential funds were pocketed… In the previous hearings, there was no evidence that the money was pocketed. Unless I&#x27;m wrong. Unless you can show any evidence that proves that binulsa talaga,” Puno explained.At least two NUP members at the lower chamber maintained their position in the 19th Congress that the Vice President committed an impeachable offense. But whether the four pending complaints against Duterte will be able to prove the allegations remains to be seen.“If the case will still (be) the same, kung ‘yung ipinasok nila noong nakaraan ‘yun pa rin, naniniwala akong dapat siya ma-impeach… Titignan ko pa rin ‘yung evidence. At ako naman, definitely I will base on evidence,” said Manila City 2nd District Representative Rolando Valeriano, who delivered a privilege speech against the Vice President last Congress. <div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/19/4th-impeachment-complaint-vs-vp-sara-duterte-sent-to-house-speaker-s-office-1554">4th impeachment complaint vs VP Sara Duterte sent to House Speaker’s office</a></div>“I will maintain my position that if the evidence during the previous impeachment, especially the evidence on betrayal of public trust, I will not take back my previous vote during the previous impeachment,” House Senior Deputy Majority Leader and Iloilo 3rd District Representative Lorenz Defensor, for his part said. He was part of the House prosecution panel in the 19th Congress.“While the issues were discussed during some of the committees, especially during the Quad Comm and the Good Government Committee hearings, these impeachment allegations were never discussed because trial was not conducted by the Senate Impeachment Court, so it will be discussed here in Congress,” the Iloilo solon added. Defensor and Valeriano also said the NUP will respect its members’ independence when it comes to voting on the impeachment complaints against the Vice President.“Wala namang party order na parang lahat tayo dapat hindi bumoto o bumoto. Ang salita naman, it will be a conscience vote so it will depend on the House members of the NUP kung ano ang sa tingin nilang tama. Anyway, even before naman, hindi naman kami dinidiktahan ng partido regarding diyan sa ganyang mga pagboto,” Valeriano said.“I&#x27;m not aware of any specific party statement or official statement from the party… I&#x27;m just happy that for as long as I have been a member of the NUP, they have respected my independence when it comes to national issues,” Defensor said, adding he was not consulted before the NUP statement was issued.Puno, meanwhile, asserted that the NUP statement was not influenced by Duterte’s recent announcement of her intent to run for President in 2028. “Wala naman connection ‘yun eh. Alam naman ng lahat tatakbo na siya eh. Alam naman ng lahat, nasa majority kami ng Congress. So, we&#x27;re not on the same side. So, that has nothing to do with this. This has to do with fair play,” he said.Puno noted that the NUP remains a member of the House majority. He also believes the party’s vote on the impeachment efforts against the Vice President will not “conclusively” affect the results.“We are only 42. There are 300 plus congressmen. You only need 106 or something to be able to push this to the Senate. I don&#x27;t believe that our position is going to one way affect conclusively the results of what&#x27;s going to happen here. But it&#x27;s important for NUP to say that we are going to listen to the hearings, we are going to wait for evidence that we have not seen before and which will convince us that there is a liability and a basis for raising this up to an impeachment trial in the Senate,” Puno said. For House Committee on Justice Chairperson and Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro, whether or not there is support for the impeachment complaints against Duterte, the House panel is duty-bound to deliberate on them.<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/23/house-initiates-impeachment-proceeding-against-vp-duterte-1619">House initiates impeachment proceeding against VP Duterte</a></div>“Regardless of the amount of support that we get or we see from the House members or from the party leadership, that is beside the point. Kasi whether we like it or not, we have a duty that we really have to face… Kung sa ganito kaaga, mayroong mga national parties, who are already manifesting their position. Similar to that of the NUP. I think the endorsers should be more challenged this time to be able to present strong evidence,” Luistro said.“I wish to remind the people na itong mga offenses or charge in the impeachment complaints ay hindi naman po napag-usapan in substance… considering that there was a petition in the Supreme Court, which relied solely on issues of technicalities. So, bagaman ang grounds, which are incorporated in the four impeachment complaints are almost the same as the grounds alleged in the first impeachment process against the Vice President, I  think the Filipino people deserves to know what really happened,” she added. The House panel has sent out notices to its members for the schedule of initial deliberations on the impeachment complaints on March 2, 3 and 4.<div> </div><div>  </div>

The National Unity Party will allow its members at the House of Representatives to vote on the impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte based on their conscience, according to NUP Chairperson and Antipolo City 1st District Rep. Ronaldo Puno.

The National Unity Party will allow its members at the House of Representatives to vote on the impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Sara Duterte based on their conscience, according to NUP Chairperson and Antipolo City 1st District Rep. Ronaldo Puno.

NUP has no party stand on Sara Duterte impeachment complaints, says Puno

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NUP has no party stand on Sara Duterte impeachment complaints, says Puno

Vivienne Gulla,

ABS-CBN News

Published Feb 26, 2026 05:45 PM PHT

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Ronaldo Puno

IMpeachment

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