Vice President Sara Duterte is not yet off the hook.

Ranking members of the House "Young Guns" bloc stressed this point on Sunday, Aug. 10 as they vowed to pursue accountability on the part of the Vice President for her alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.

Deputy Speakers La Union 1st district Rep. Paolo Ortega V and Zambales 1st district Rep. Jay Khonghun had this to say after President Marcos stated that the Supreme Court (SC) ruling declaring the House-initiated impeachment complaint against Duterte unconstitutional did not resolve her accountability.

“I agree with the President. The [SC] decision delved on procedural issues but not on the alleged misuse of CIFs received by the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she was education secretary,” Ortega, a stalwart of Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats (CMD), said.

“The accountability part was not resolved, so we intend to continue asking her to account for those funds and answer for how they have been handled or mishandled,” he said.

Ortega even quoted the SC decision that echoed Marcos' point: “Our ruling does not absolve petitioner VP Sara Duterte from any of the charges. Any ruling on the charges against her can only be accomplished through another impeachment process, followed by a trial and conviction by the Senate.”

Khonghun, another stalwart of Lakas-CMD, said the President’s statement jibes with the pronouncement of the SC that it did not touch on the controversial lady official's accountability in its ruling.

“The people should understand this: the entire 93-page ruling tackled the impeachment process and rules in the House of Representatives. It did not absolve VP Duterte of culpability in the use of P612.5 million received by her offices,” Khonghun said.

“In other words, the Vice President is not yet off the hook on the use of this large amount of taxpayers’ money. We will pursue accountability on her part wherever it takes us,” he said.

Khonghun also slammed social media posts that made it appear that the high court has absolved the Vice President. “The Duterte camp’s trolls and disinformation peddlers are busy at work again."

The House of Representatives, through the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), had filed an motion for reconsideration (MR) on the July 25 SC ruling that voided the impeachment complaint and articles of impeachment that the chamber transmitted to the Senate last Feb. 5.

Ortega and Khonghun said they hoped the SC would reverse its ruling and allow the impeachment trial to proceed.

“If the decision remains, then we will have to discuss after Feb. 6, 2026 how to pursue accountability on the part VP Sara Duterte for her mishandling of P612.5 million in confidential funds in 2022 and 2023,” Ortega said.

There are seven articles of impeachment against Duterte. These are as follows:

Article 1: Conspiracy to assassinate President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez; 

Article 2: Malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds;

Article 3: Bribery and corruption in Department of Education (DepEd);

Article 4: Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; 

Article 5: Involvement in extrajudicial killings (EJK);

Article 6: Destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder; and

Article 7: The totality of respondent's conduct as Vice President.

Under the SC ruling, Feb. 6, 2025 is the end of the one-year period during which another impeachment complaint cannot be filed against the Vice President.