House prosecutors now have specific Articles of Impeachment assignment — Rep. Chua

The members of the House of Representatives who will act as impeachment prosecutors in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte have been given specific Articles of Impeachment to handle.

House prosecutors now have specific Articles of Impeachment assignment — Rep. Chua

At a press conference Monday, Manila 3rd district Representative and House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability chairperson Joel Chua disclosed that he will handle Articles 2 and 3 which will center on the alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, as well as bribery.

“Hinati-hati na po yung articles kung saan po ang bawat isa ay may mga assignment and at the same time, pinag-aaralan yung mga substansiya ng bawat article at kung ano pa yung possible na mga legal issues na amin pong kakaharapin,” Chua told reporters.

[The Articles (of Impeachment) have been distributed and we now have assignments and at the same time, we are studying the substance of each Article and what would be the possible legal issues we may encounter.]

Chua said there are five prosecutors assigned to Article 2 while three prosecutors are assigned to Article 3.

He also said the impeachment trial may be affected if reports that there is a warrant of arrest from the International Criminal Court for the extrajudicial killing case against former President Rodrigo Duterte are true.

There are reports that Vice President Duterte is involved in the said case.

“Si President Digong, tingin ko naman ang kanyang participation (in the impeachment) is pagiging abogado. So sa tingin ko, marami pa silang battery of lawyers na haharap dito. So sa tingin ko, di naman ito magiging kawalan. Pero in so far as si VP is concerned, ibang usapan po ‘yon dahil siya po ang ating subject nito pong impeachment complaint. But pupuwede naman po itong umusad unless, of course, kailanganin ang kanyang presensya,” Chua explained.

[I think the participation of President Digong is being a legal counsel. I think there are a battery of lawyers that will be present here so it won't be much of a problem. But in so far as the VP is concerned, she is the subject of the impeachment complaint. It would proceed unless, of course, her presence will be necessary there.]

The issue on the EJK cases during the Duterte administration’s war on drugs is the focus of Article 5 of the impeachment complaint.

“In so far as we are concerned, mayroon pong testimonial evidence na si (former police officer Arturo) Lascañas. So may direct evidence na nagpapatotoo nito. Kaya po kung tatanungin ninyo kung gaano kalakas dahil mayroon po testimonial evidence, eh masasabi ko na matibay at malakas po,” Chua said.

[In so far as we are concerned, we have a testimonial evidence by (former police officer Arturo) Lascaañas. We have direct evidence ... if I will be asked how strong the complaint is, I could say that it is strong because of the testimonial evidence.]

He added that he is confident they will get a conviction for Article 5.

Vice President Sara Duterte has filed a petition with the Supreme Court challenging the validity and constitutionality of the fourth impeachment complaint against her.

The petition for certiorari and prohibition with urgent application of temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction was filed with the SC on February 18, 2025.

The Vice President’s camp argues that the Supreme Court should declare the impeachment complaint against her as null and void on the following grounds:

• "the House committed grave abuse of discretion when it deliberately froze action on the first three impeachment complaints filed against Vice President Duterte which were never forwarded to the Office of Speaker, in this case, Leyte Representative Romualdez, as provided by the House Rules; and
• "the fourth impeachment complaint signed by 215 House members as complainants violated the Constitution's one-year ban on filing impeachment complaints since the House already took action on the three initial complaints by not forwarding it to the Speaker's office."

— RSJ, GMA Integrated News