Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua (left), Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (PPAB)

The chairmen of two hard-hitting House panels are eager to get the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte started if only to see if her denials of the allegations levelled against her would hold water.

One of them is Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua, chairman of the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability, also known as the Blue Ribbon Committee.  

"Magkita na lang kami sa Senate impeachment court (I'll just see her at the Senate Impeachment Court). We are ready for her and her antics," said Chua, who incidentally is one of the 11 congressmen-prosecutors tapped by the House leadership for the impeachment case.

Most of the allegations mentioned in seven articles of impeachment against the Vice President were tackled in multiple hearings of the Chua panel last year.

These include the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and Department of Education (DepEd), as well as the alleged bribery and corruption of DepEd officials.

For his part, Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers said the impeachment trial over at the Senate will be the ultimate venue for truth.

This, as Barbers--overall chairman of the vaunted quad-committee (quad-comm), chided the Vice President for denying a key evidence against her despite strong evidence that says otherwise.

According to the Vice President Friday, Feb. 7, she did not threaten to have President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated. This allegation tops the list of the articles of impeachment.

The threat, made in November 2024, was widely circulated on social media.

“May mga ebidensya pong nakasama po ‘dun, ‘yung videos, ‘yung pahayag na ating Bise Presidente, kaya nga po naisama po ‘yan and kaya nga po may proseso,” Barbers said.

(The allegation comes with pieces of evidence, the videos, the statement of our Vice President, that's why that was included and that's why there's a process.)

He expressed confidence that the truth will surface in Duterte’s Senate trial.

“The Vice President is saying otherwise, siya ang diyan po sa proceedings eh diyan na po magkakaalaman kung ano po ba ‘yung katotohanan sa likod nitong article na ito,” Barbers said.

(In the proceedings, we will find out the truth about this article of impeachment.)