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Jose Rodel Clapano - The Philippine Star
February 28, 2026 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Members of the National Unity Party (NUP) will most likely exercise a conscience vote in the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte, House deputy speaker and Antipolo City Rep. Ronnie Puno said on Thursday, denying claims that they are daunted by Duterte’s announcement of her presidential bid.
“None, absolutely not. There is no connection. We all know that she is running. So the majority in Congress knows, so we are not on the same side,” Puno said.
The NUP chairman said they will have another formal meeting regarding Duterte’s impeachment, and that the consensus of the party members is to wait for the evidence to be presented before making any judgment.
“So that has nothing to do with this. This has to do with fair play. It has to do with the process that we are undertaking. We are going to be establishing precedents here. You know, there has been many precedents here in what has happened in the impeachment issues over the past two years,” Puno said.
He also clarified that the statement released to the media on Wednesday night is not the party’s stand but the consensus of the ones that he has talked to.
“I doubt that there will be a uniform party stand here because there is just too much division among our members. So the tendency now or the direction now is that we probably will have conscience vote, that everybody will be allowed to vote the way he wants to vote,” Puno said.
“There’s no clear bias or leaning towards either side at this point. So we are very divided right now. So we ended up with let’s see what the evidence will show,” he added.
The NUP statement emphasized on Wednesday that it would support the impeachment against Duterte only if new evidence is presented.
Constitutional duty
Regardless of the amount of support the House justice committee will get on the impeachment case against the Vice President, the process itself is a “constitutional duty” of every lawmaker, Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville Luistro said yesterday.
The House justice panel chair said whatever will be the stand of the NUP, which has among the most number of members in the lower chamber, on Duterte’s impeachment will depend on party leadership.
“Nevertheless, for us in the justice committee, we do appreciate this impeachment process as a constitutional duty. So, 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, because whether we like it or not, we have a duty that we really have to face,” she added.
Luistro earlier said deliberations on the four impeachment complaints against the Vice President may start as early as March 2.
‘VP a liar, drama queen’
Meanwhile, Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro yesterday branded Duterte a “liar” and a “drama queen” following her latest tirades against President Marcos.
Castro was asked to comment on a speech of Duterte in Davao City, where the latter claimed that after resigning as education secretary and her announcement of her 2028 presidential bid, many have “cancelled” their invitations to her for fear of being a target of the government.
“Former president Duterte himself said that there are times when the Vice President is a liar,” Castro said, showing a copy of a newspaper article where the former president labeled his daughter a “drama queen.”
On Duterte’s statement saying she should have just remained a mayor of Davao City and not run for vice president, Castro said, “We agree with her statement.” — Helen Flores
