House ready to receive VP impeach raps on February 6

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February 1, 2026 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives is ready to receive and act on any impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte starting Feb. 6, public accounts committee chair Terry Ridon said yesterday.

The Bicol Saro party-list representative said the chamber is prepared to proceed under the Constitution and House rules while complying with the Supreme Court (SC)’s clarified notice requirements on the so-called express route of impeachment filing.

“We respect the decision of the Supreme Court in this matter. But, we want to make it clear that on Feb. 6, Congress is ready to accept and hear all new complaints against VP Sara Duterte,” Ridon said during the Saturday forum.

The SC’s one-year bar rule against filing any impeachment complaint against Duterte lapses on Feb. 6.

In resolving the House’s motion for reconsideration, Ridon said the SC effectively removed the restrictive due process requirements imposed in its earlier decision, particularly those requiring advance notice and copies of evidence to be furnished to impeachable officers at the filing stage.

“The Supreme Court back-pedalled from their restrictive due process requirements in their original decision where they are requiring to give the respondent impeachable officers the chance to answer and have copy of the evidence. It is no longer in the resolution for the motion for reconsideration,” Ridon clarified.

He explained that the High Court’s modification now places the documentary “notice” burden on members of the House who move through the so-called express or one-third route – a formulation that the chamber can operationalize without slowing down constitutionally recognized processes to initiate cases.

“The requirement of the SC now is first, all House members who will join the impeachment complaint under the express route must have a copy of the draft impeachment complaint and all the accompanying pieces of evidence. Second, all members included in the plenary deliberations of this impeachment under the express route should have a copy of the articles of impeachment and accompanying evidence,” Ridon said.

For his part, good government and public accountability committee chair and Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua said House members will comply with the ruling but reserve disagreement on portions that, in their view, intrude on internal rules.

‘Only on procedure’

Although the SC declared the impeachment complaint against Duterte unconstitutional, the ruling only dealt with procedure and not the merits of the case, Chua noted.

“When it comes to the substance, they did not mention it here. So, it is still good and very interesting because until now the content of the impeachment complaint has not been resolved yet,” he said.

Ridon agreed with Chua, saying the SC’s decision revolved around technical and procedural questions, not the substantive allegations.

“So, I think even as filed, we just have to look at how the process will be this time,” he stressed.

Mary Grace Piattos

Among the basis for the impeachment raps against Duterte were the aliases of the confidential fund recipients, among them “Mary Grace Piattos,” a combination of a popular restaurant and a local snack brand.

Mary Grace Piattos sparked both public curiosity and ridicule, yet lawmakers were not amused.

Last year, House deputy speaker and Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun revealed that Piattos allegedly received the largest share of confidential funds disbursed by the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022.

The controversy centered on 158 acknowledgment receipts attached to liquidation reports submitted by the OVP to the Commission on Audit.

Lawmakers suspected the receipts were fabricated or hastily prepared to justify P125 million in confidential funds that were allegedly spent in just 11 days.

During the previous 19th Congress, the House committee on good government and public accountability investigated how the OVP and the Department of Education handled a total of P612.5 million in confidential funds across 2022 and 2023 when Duterte was both Vice President and education secretary.