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 testimonies and documents pointing to irregularities in the use of the Vice President’s confidential funds at the inquiry of the House committee on good government and public accountability.

“If they want to, by Monday or even Tuesday, [the complaint] can be transmitted to the Senate,” he said.   

Two impeachment complaints were filed separately last week, accusing Duterte of misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds and of threatening President Marcos Jr., among others.

The first, filed on Dec. 2 by 16 members of activist organizations and endorsed by the Akbayan party-list group in the House, cited culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes as grounds for Duterte’s ouster.

On Dec. 4, 74 members of other progressive groups, including Colmenares, filed the second complaint accusing Duterte of betrayal of public trust by supposedly misusing P612.5 million in confidential funds. At the heart of their complaint is her 11-day spending of P125 million of the secret funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in December 2022.

The second complaint was endorsed by members of the Makabayan bloc in the House, who obtained audit reports on the confidential funds of the OVP and the Department of Education from the Commission on Audit.

Colmenares, a former Bayan Muna representative, said that in the House or even in the Senate, proving the Vice President’s betrayal of public trust would not be difficult “because the facts are very, very well proven since they come from the official proceedings” of the lower chamber. 

“In both cases, the impeachment proceedings will be quick if they want to,” he told CoverStory.ph via Zoom on Saturday afternoon. 

‘More than plunder’

Colmenares, a prosecutor in the impeachment of the late chief justice Renato Corona in 2012, said Duterte may be convicted for the unexplained P125 million alone—an amount that, he pointed out, is twice the minimum threshold of P50 million for the crime of plunder.  

“If you can’t explain it, can’t account for it, you’re finished. That’s a betrayal of public trust. In fact, that is more than plunder,’’ he said. “The P125 million alone, or P612 million, for that matter—that can pin her down.” 

Of the P125 million spent from Dec. 21 to 31 in 2022, P73.3 million was disallowed by the Commission on Audit due to irregularities. 

In yet another revelation at the House quad committee’s inquiry into the supposed misuse of the confidential funds, a certain Mary Grace Piattos emerged as among the 677 recipients of the funds through the OVP’s aid program. The Philippine Statistics Authority said no person by that name has a record of birth, marriage or death in its civil registry records.

Under the Constitution, a vote of at least one-third of the House is sufficient to affirm a “favorable resolution” with the Articles of Impeachment of the committee.

A conviction requires the vote of two-thirds of the 23-member Senate.

‘Function’

Colmenares said the House may refer the complaints to a committee for hearing, but may also transmit the Articles of Impeachment immediately to the Senate once the required number of signatures has been secured. 

“It will not be difficult to gather the one-third signatures because the evidence came from them,” he said.  

Colmenares said the Senate, which counts fierce allies of the Vice President and former President Rodrigo Duterte among its members, should decide the matter on the issue of “function.”  

He reminded the senators that Congress holds the “power of the purse” and the Vice President’s refusal to account for the confidential funds “is an affront” to both chambers. 

“This is not only about Sara Duterte, this is [also] about attacking the very function of Congress, including the Senate,’’ he said.   

But more importantly, senators should scrutinize the complaint against the Vice President based on its merits, according to Colmenares.

“It should transcend political consideration. It should transcend political party [affiliation]. Because this is all about the funds of the people. It should not be a case of ‘If I vote here, I might lose in 2028’,” he said.

Colmenares said that if the trial starts in January, and the Senate will just try one ground, say betrayal of public trust, the upper chamber can decide the Vice President’s fate by February, when the national campaign for the May 2025 midterm elections kicks off. 

“They keep saying there’s no more time. If they want to, there’s still time,’’ he said.

Iglesia ni Cristo’s call

This is why, Colmenares said, the religious bloc Iglesia ni Cristo’s announcement that its members will rally against Duterte’s impeachment in support of President Marcos’ stand against her being impeached would be “moot and academic” by then.   

“If Sara Duterte is convicted in February 2025, the position of INC will no longer be the same. Sara will be out of the picture,” he said, adding:

“That’s why the congressmen should not fear the INC call, but instead fast-track the process. The only reason INC is doing this is because they support Sara Duterte. But if she’s impeached and convicted, she’s no longer the Vice President of the Philippines.”

The President has earlier called on administration lawmakers not to waste time on impeaching Duterte, saying that she is “unimportant” and that the move would bog down Congress. 

Colmenares also dismissed as “ad hominem” National Security Council assistant director-general Jonathan Malaya’s assertion that Makabayan’s filing of the impeachment complaint reeked of “political opportunism.” 

“The moment Congress approves our impeachment complaint, it’s as if Malaya Red-tagged the entire Congress. The moment the Senate convicts Sara Duterte, it’s as if he Red-tagged the Senate,” Colmenares said.  

He said Filipinos should not be faulted for holding to account top government officials through impeachment because this is a recourse available to them under the law.

Read more: Impeaching the VP is ‘the right thing to do’