Camille Naredo

Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.

Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Duterte outlines her priorities, including governance reforms, public service continuity, and national development. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

VP SARA DUTERTE

Vivienne Gulla

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177366962963720260218-vp-sara-duterte-presidency-MT.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" alt="Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>MANILA (<strong>UPDATED</strong>) -- The camp of Vice President Sara Duterte asked the House Committee on Justice on Monday to dismiss the impeachment complaints against her, citing alleged &quot;absence&quot; of ultimate facts, alleged &quot;violation&quot; of her right to due process, and alleged &quot;double standards&quot; in the House panel proceedings.</p><p>In their Consolidated Verified Answer Ad Cautelam to the two impeachment complaints, Duterte&#x27;s camp denied the allegations and the attached &quot;evidence,&quot; tagging them as &quot;false, misleading, impertinent, and mere conclusions of fact and law.&quot;</p><p>&quot;What they present instead are bare conclusions of fact and law, heavily laden with self-serving conjectures, logical fallacies, and speculative claims, none of which can substitute for the clear and specific statement of ultimate facts required to support an impeachment complaint,&quot; Duterte, through her counsels, stated.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/15/wrap-deadline-for-duterte-to-answer-impeachment-complaints-draws-near-2237">READ: Deadline for Duterte to answer impeachment complaints draws near</a></div><p>They accused the House panel of &quot;failing to observe fair play&quot; in dealing with the impeachment complaints against the Vice President, compared to its impeachment proceedings against the President.</p><p>&quot;In dismissing the impeachment complaints against the President, this Committee went beyond the four corners of the complaints and relied on extraneous considerations that are irrelevant in determining the sufficiency of the factual allegations. On the contrary, the same parameters were not applied by this Committee to the Impeachment complaints against the respondent. However, no sufficient reason exists to justify such disparate treatment,&quot; the document stated.</p><p>&quot;Sa aming pananaw ay hindi naging uniform &#x27;yung standards ng pag-determine ng sufficiency in form and substance doon sa naging impeachment complaints laban sa ating Pangulo at impeachment complaints laban sa ating pangalawang Pangulo,&quot; Duterte&#x27;s legal counsel, Atty. Michael Poa, said in an interview.</p><p>&quot;Mostly, mayroon kaming issue doon on the constitutionality of the proceedings. And aside from that, &#x27;yung aming assertion na wala pong ultimate facts &#x27;yung naging nilalaman ng mga complaints, and therefore, there&#x27;s really nothing to answer,&quot; he added.</p><p>Asked whether they have plans to raise before the Supreme Court the alleged constitutional issues in the House impeachment proceedings, Poa replied: &quot;Siguro po malalaman n&#x27;yo na lang sa susunod na araw. Sa ngayon, I don&#x27;t really want to give details on that.&quot;</p><p>&quot;However, it was very clear in our answer kaya po &#x27;ad cautelam&#x27; &#x27;yan is that although of course we are subjecting ourselves to the process that is without prejudice doon sa mga remedies under the law for us to question the validity of the proceedings,&quot; he added.</p><p>The impeachment complaints accused the Vice President of alleged culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes. </p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/4/house-panel-sara-duterte-impeachment-complaint-sufficient-in-substance-1403">READ: House panel: Sara Duterte impeachment complaints &#x27;sufficient in substance&#x27;</a></div><p>Among the common grounds they cited are the alleged misuse of confidential funds, alleged bribery of officials from the Department of Education, alleged unexplained wealth and material non-disclosure in her SALN, and the alleged contracting of an assassin supposedly to kill the President, the First Lady and the former House Speaker.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>UNRESOLVED</strong></div><p>In their Consolidated Verified Answer Ad Cautelam, Duterte said the matter of confidential funds, which are the subject of a Commission on Audit Notice of Disallowance,  &quot;remains pending and unresolved&quot;. </p><p>&quot;Any ruling of the COA would, in any event, remain subject to final judicial review by the Supreme Court,&quot; Duterte&#x27;s camp said.</p><div><a class="fr-green fr-strong" href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/3/4/sara-duterte-says-impeachment-proceedings-not-a-priority-of-her-office-1031">READ: Duterte not monitoring impeachment hearings: &#x27;Hindi &#x27;yan ang prayoridad ng OVP&#x27;</a></div><p>They added that Ramil Madriaga&#x27;s claims against the Vice President are &quot;unauthenticated, inherently incredible, of questionable origin and devoid of any probative value&quot;. </p><p>Madriaga had claimed to be Duterte&#x27;s former bagman, which the Vice President previously denied.</p><p>&quot;He failed to support his claims with any shred of evidence,&quot; her camp said.</p><p>They added that allegations of malversation, technical malversation, and graft and corruption against the VP are &quot;mere conclusions&quot;, and no ultimate fact shows the Vice President amassed ill-gotten wealth.</p><p>Duterte&#x27;s camp noted that the allegations in the complaints are &quot;recycled&quot; from the 2025 articles of impeachment filed by the lower chamber against the Vice President, which they said were nullified by the Supreme Court.</p><p>House Committee on Justice Chairperson Gerville Luistro, however, previously clarified that the High Court ruled based on technicality and it did not absolve Duterte of the allegations in the articles of impeachment.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>NOT DEPRIVED OF DUE PROCESS</strong></div><p>House Committee on Justice Member and Bicol Saro Party List Representative Terry Ridon, meanwhile, denied that Duterte was deprived of due process, as claimed in her Consolidated Verified Answer Ad Cautelam.</p><p>&quot;The Vice President was not deprived of due process. In fact, she was afforded the opportunity to respond through this Answer Ad Cautelam. However, the submission does not specifically and completely rebut the material allegations raised in the complaints,&quot; he said.</p><p>Ridon added it would be &quot;incorrect&quot; to claim that the impeachment complaints failed to state ultimate facts.</p><p>&quot;A plain reading of the complaints and supporting documentation clearly establishes ultimate facts relating to: a. the misuse of confidential funds; b. the issuance of death threats against the President, the First Lady, and the former Speaker of the House; and c. unexplained wealth and violations of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) requirements,&quot; he explained.</p><p>Ridon pointed out that the Vice President&#x27;s Consolidated Verified Answer Ad Cautelam &quot;fails to squarely address the allegations contained in the two impeachment complaints.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Instead of responding directly to the charges, it attempts to challenge the impeachment proceedings itself based on a confused interpretation of due process and the concept of ultimate facts in impeachment cases,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;These allegations go to the very heart of public accountability and constitutional responsibility. Together with the members of the House Committee on Justice, we will continue to discharge our constitutional duty to ensure that impeachable officials are held accountable for impeachable offenses,&quot; Ridon added.</p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div>

<p>Vice President Sara Duterte has responded to the impeachment complaints against her, Bicol Saro Party-List Rep. Terry Ridon said on Monday.</p>

Vice President Sara Duterte has responded to the impeachment complaints against her, Bicol Saro Party-List Rep. Terry Ridon said on Monday.

VP Duterte's camp asks House panel to dismiss impeachment complaints against her

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VP Duterte's camp asks House panel to dismiss impeachment complaints against her

Vivienne Gulla,

ABS-CBN News

Published March 16, 2026 05:52 PM PHT

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Updated March 16, 2026 10:00 PM PHT

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Sara Duterte

VP Sara Duterte

impeachment

House of Representatives

Committee on Justice

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