Convicting Vice President Sara Duterte will no longer require a fixed 16-vote threshold, as the Senate impeachment court ruled on Wednesday, Sept. 23, that the constitutional two-thirds majority applies only to senators eligible to participate. The ruling, which followed a 13-1 vote with six senators not participating, overturned the 16-vote threshold set by Senate impeachment...
Tag: impeachment trial
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49 gov’t contracts worth ₱35.9M awarded to Duterte-linked food firm
GenCorp Industries Inc., a food corporation listed as a business interest in Vice President Sara Duterte’s statement of assets, liabilities, and net worth (SALN), secured 49 government contracts worth ₱35.9 million from 2022 to 2026, a House prosecution witness told the Senate impeachment court. Three government agencies, all based in the Davao region, awarded the...
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SEC official reveals Duterte corporate role in food firm
Vice President Sara Duterte maintained her roles at a food corporation as a board director and member of the compensation committee when she assumed the second-highest post in the land in 2022, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official. Gerardo del Rosario, director of the SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department, also said...
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Senator-judges can change 16-vote threshold to convict, say 3 former chief justices
The Senate impeachment court can still change the current voting threshold of 16 senators to convict Vice President Sara Duterte, according to three former chief justices of the Supreme Court. Hilario Davide Jr., Artemio V. Panganiban, and Reynato S. Puno said the number of votes to remove an impeached official should not be fixed at...
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Duterte net worth rose to ₱98M in 2025 even without corporate acquisition costs
Could omitting corporate acquisition costs in her statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) mean Vice President Sara Duterte’s net worth, which 2025 records showed was a whopping ₱98 million, is undervalued? Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian raised this question on Tuesday, Sept. 15, after House prosecutors presented Duterte’s SALNs from 2007 to 2025 at...
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Ex-Sandigan chief testifies on unexplained wealth in Duterte impeachment trial
Retired Sandiganbayan Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang told the Senate impeachment court on Monday, Sept. 14, that the Constitution imposes stricter rules on the president and vice president’s financial engagements to prevent potential abuse of power. “There is a greater possibility of abuse given their positions,” she said, citing a Supreme Court ruling in the case...
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Prosecutors plan to call Duterte to testify in her impeachment trial
House prosecutors intend to call Vice President Sara Duterte as a witness in her own impeachment trial after presenting evidence on all four allegations they raised against her under the articles of impeachment. “The testimony of the Vice President will be material to all four articles—grave threats, misuse and misappropriation of funds, unexplained wealth, and...
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Duterte secret fund recipients were minors, dead or missing in PSA records
Beyond odd-sounding names, supposed recipients of Vice President Sara Duterte’s confidential funds from her office and the Department of Education (DepEd) in 2023 were recorded as minors, dead, or missing in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA). The youngest was a 2-month-old baby who died in 1965, or 60 years before supposedly signing acknowledgment receipts (ARs)...
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Witness says he didn’t know Duterte assigned security officer to handle DepEd secret funds
One of Vice President Sara Duterte’s “most trusted” officials acknowledged on Wednesday, Sept. 2, that he was unaware that she had tasked a security officer, Lt. Col. Dennis Nolasco, with handling multimillion-peso confidential funds at the Department of Education (DepEd). Michael Poa, a former education undersecretary and chief of staff, said he learned of Nolasco’s...
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No DepEd funds for Army youth programs, colonels tell impeachment court
Two Army officials stated Tuesday that their units received no confidential or regular funds in 2023 from the Department of Education (DepEd) under Vice President Sara Duterte for anti-insurgency and anti-terrorism programs for the youth, contrary to its claim. They also told the Senate impeachment court that DepEd officials requested that the certifications they issued...