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February 9, 2026 | 3:37pm
Clergymen, pastors, nuns and lawyers walk with Rep. Leila de Lima (ML Party-list) to file the third impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026.
ML Party-list / Released
MANILA, Philippines — A group of clergymen, evangelists, pastors, nuns and lawyers filed a third impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte before the House Office of the Secretary General on Monday, February 9.
The complainants, who also filed an impeachment complaint in December 2024, said they returned to the House holding onto the belief that accountability should apply equally.
If a public school principal could be imprisoned for 11 years for pocketing P5,000, the vice president should likewise be held accountable for millions allegedly misused, their legal counsel Amando Ligutan said.
"Do we give the vice president a free pass just because she has a famous family name?" he asked.
Ligutan added that the complainants believe that unseating the vice president is no longer just a constitutional obligation but a moral one.
Sara and her confidential funds
In the third complaint, the complainants accused Duterte of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, plunder, malversation, graft and corruption, bribery, and other high crimes in connection with her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.
Ligutan said the complaint includes several pieces of evidence detailing how Duterte allegedly spent millions of pesos entrusted to her offices as vice president and as Education secretary. These include liquidation vouchers, audit findings, and transcripts of testimonies made by her staff under oath.
The case could stand even without the testimony of Duterte’s alleged former aide and self-confessed bagman Ramil Madriaga, he added.
"We have certifications from the Philippine Statistics Authority saying that these individuals do not exist. They were not born, they're not dead. They are what they are — fictitious," he said.
Two of the complainants, Fathers Joel Saballa and Joselito Sarabia, said now is the time for the vice president to answer the allegations against her, with Saballa adding that if she felt she had been denied a chance to respond before, she now has that opportunity.
"This impeachment is a legal process grounded in the Constitution, which is why we are here filing it — to give her the opportunity to speak, explain herself, and present her evidence," Saballa said in Filipino.
The third complaint was endorsed by Rep. Leila de Lima (ML Party-list), who also backed the second impeachment complaint filed by civil society and anti-corruption groups. She said this filing is an “improved version” of the articles of impeachment once transmitted to the Senate in February 2025.
What's next?
De Lima expects Secretary General Cheloy Garafil to immediately transmit the third complaint to the Office of the Speaker so it can be taken up by the rules committee during its scheduled hearing on Tuesday.
Under House rules, the three impeachment complaints must be included in the House Order of Business within 10 session days, or until February 23.
While an impeachment can be expedited through the endorsement of one-third of all House members, there is no word yet on whether the same lawmakers who endorsed the complaint that impeached Duterte last year are preparing a fourth filing.
