For the second time, and now with an overwhelming majority, the House of Representatives voted on Monday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte on accusations of misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, and threats to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. killed. Duterte is the first Filipino official to be impeached twice. The first time was in 2025, with...
Tag: House of Representatives
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The work of the House justice committee merits public attention
Ramil Madriaga’s allegations were intense, yet Vice President Sara Duterte did not seize the clear and present opportunity to make mincemeat out of them. There was no bloodbath during the daylong hearing of the House justice committee last Tuesday although there was a recurring ritual performed for the record: Madame Chair, the redoubtable Batangas Rep....
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Ramil Madriaga’s story of service and betrayal
Explosive allegations were made against Vice President Sara Duterte and her father by a man claiming to be her former aide and bagman at the resumption of the impeachment proceedings conducted by the House justice committee on Tuesday. Ramil Madriaga was occasionally overcome by emotion as he read aloud a supplemental affidavit that he swore...
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House justice committee votes to summon Vice President’s documents
The House of Representatives’ committee on justice voted on Wednesday to summon witnesses and documents it deemed necessary to determine “probable cause” to bring Vice President Sara Duterte to trial at the Senate impeachment court. Among the documents are the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in its probe into Duterte’s threat in...
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In numbers: Dynasties and contractors capture party-list seats in the 20th Congress
Nearly 40 years ago, the framers of the post-Marcos Constitution provided for a party-list system to ensure that Congress would not be dominated by political families. Today, the hope that party-list representatives would provide a counterweight to the power of dynasties has been completely dashed. In the 20th Congress, half of the 64 party-list representatives...
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The Veep’s declared run for No. 1 and her ‘ready’ running mate
Vice President Sara Duterte’s announcement of her presidential run in 2028 was hardly unexpected. She has been projected as front-runner; her approval ratings stay strong despite her questioned disbursement of P612 million in confidential funds taken from taxpayer money. The continuing absence of explanation for the disbursement is again in prime spot among the burning issues...
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Budget reform advocates urge the bicam: Abolish unprogrammed appropriations
With the first-ever open bicameral conference (bicam) set to start on Dec. 13 to reconcile the Senate and House versions of the proposed ₱6.7-trillion national budget for 2026, reform advocates have one distinctive call: for the bicam members to abolish unprogrammed appropriations (UA) in the budget measure that have been the source of “insertions” and...
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Marcos admin freed up ₱214B in unprogrammed funds for ‘priority’ infra in 2023-2024
The term “unprogrammed appropriations,” or UAs, sounds innocent enough. But to politicians, public works officials and contractors, they are an opportunity for graft. UAs are standby funds sourced from new or excess government revenues and foreign loans. These revenues were not expected and so were not included in the regular budget. In 2023 and 2024,...
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Interregnum
Three impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte are pending in the House of Representatives, filed respectively by members of civic organizations, activist groups, and a coalition of priests and lawyers. A fourth complaint is reported to be in the works. The first two complaints were filed with the expectation that action would be taken...
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VP’s impeachment can be quick ‘if House wants to’
If it wants to, the House of Representatives can impeach Vice President Sara Duterte anytime over her alleged misuse of confidential funds because the evidence is in its possession, lawyer and former lawmaker Neri Colmenares said on Saturday. “They can’t say our evidence is lacking. The evidence came from them,’’ Colmenares said in reference to...