House Committee on Justice Chairperson Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro says the panel's mission moving forward would be to defend its ruling for the presence of probable cause in the 2026 impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.

“Now I can officially say that the justice committee has a stand, and the stand is for the [existence of] probable cause,” Luistro said on Thursday, April 30 during an interview with GMA 7’s Unang Hirit.

“From this day forward, our mandate should be able to defend the determination of probable cause by the justice committee,” reckoned the lawyer-legislator.

“And if this will be affirmed by the plenary, our mandate will continue and that is to prosecute the Vice President until her conviction in the trial by the Senate,” Luistro added.

On Wednesday, the justice panel voted to declare the presence of probable cause in the two active impeachment complaints against the lady official. The vote result was a unanimous 53-0 (yes-no) for each of the complaints.

She said that during the clarificatory hearings, the committee had taken care to remain impartial because it was acting in a manner similar to a preliminary investigation.

“And I wish to add that in my capacity as chair, we cannot stand for either party. We stood for the process,” Luistro added.

The panel chairperson also rejected claims that outside pressure was being exerted on lawmakers’ staff to line up support for the impeachment process.

“In as far as I am concerned I beg to disagree with that. Wala po akong nae-encounter na tumatawag na sinuman maging sa akin o sa aking chief of staff concerning the support to this impeachment process,” she said.

(I have not encountered anyone calling me or my chief of staff concerning the support to this impeachment process.)

She then addressed the defense team’s claim that the proceedings were unconstitutional, saying the committee had expected such attacks from the start and had prepared to keep moving unless the courts explicitly ordered otherwise.

“They can always say that. They can always attack the constitutionality of the proceedings before the justice committee. As a matter of fact we anticipated that since day 1 of our proceeding,” Luistro added.

Luistro noted that the legal pushback has not been limited to petitions before the Supreme Court (SC), but has also included criminal complaints against some committee members, including herself.

“Anticipated namin yan pero ang stand ng committee (We've anticipated that but the committee's stand is) so long as there is no TRO (temporary restraining order), so long as there is no injunction, our constitutional duty is to proceed with this impeachment process,” she said.

Vice President Duterte's impeachment is being sought over her offices' alleged misuse of P612.5 million worth of confidential funds; untruthful declarations in the filing of her statements of assets, liabilities, and net worth; unexplained wealth; and death threats to President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Leyte 1st district Rep. Martin Romualdez.

Meanwhile, Luistro confirmed that the two active impeachment complaints--the Saballa et al complaint and the Cabreba complaint--would be consolidated into one and in the process create one list of allegations the respondent, Duterte.

She also said that the panel would conduct one more hearing on Monday, May 4.

'Ito ay kaugnay ng pag-aapruba ng ating ipinahahanda na committee report along with the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment (This is in connection with the approval of the committee report we are preparing along with the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment).

“We can have one articles of impeachment only before the committee and we can transmit one articles of impeachment only as well. We can transmit only one to the plenary,” Luistro explained.

She said she expects the committee to transmit its work on May 4, after which the next move will shift to the full House. "I anticipate that the plenary will be transmitting these documents to all the members of the House of Representatives."

The earliest that Luistro can sponsor the committee report containing the panel's findings is on Monday afternoon during the House members' first plenary session after their lengthy summer recess.