Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the House of Representatives simply cannot ignore the serious allegations made by Ramil Madriaga against Vice President Sara Duterte, whom the lower chamber impeached during the previous 19th Congress.

“Mr. Madriaga’s allegations are grave,” Ridon said in a statement Saturday, Jan. 10, amid reports thar groups seeking to file a new impeachment complaint against the lady official seek to include Madriaga’s affidavit among the grounds for the case.

“Even without it being part of a ground for impeachment, I guess the Congress can look at it,” reckoned the lawyer-solon.

“If they want it as one of the grounds,” Ridon said, referring to potential impeachment filers, “Congress will ultimately have to require corroborative evidence.”

Madriaga--currently detained at the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) in Taguig City--claimed in his leaked affidavit that Vice President Duterte’s election campaign effort in 2022 was funded with money from Philippine Offshore and Gaming Operators (POGO) and drug dealers.

The alleged ex-Duterte administration intelligence officer also alleged that he made cash deliveries, including one he personally made at a Timog comedy bar where then-Office of the Vice President (OVP) spokesperson Reynold Munsayac was supposedly present.

He also made alleged handoffs in the Office of the Ombudsman parking area and at SM Megamall; a delivery using a white Toyota Vios carrying as much as P80 million; and repeated drop-offs at a residence in Jordan Plains, Novaliches.

Madriaga also claimed to have organized the Inday Sara Duterte Is My President (ISIP) Pilipinas network, as well as worked under figures connected to the Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG).

Ridon pointed out that a House probe does not necessarily have to be coursed through the Committee on Justice, noting that other committees, such as the House quad-committee in the 20th Congress, may also look into the matter given its possible links to government complicity and syndicate operations.

Under nomal procedure, the House justice panel determines whether or not an impeachment complaint is sufficient in form and in substance.

Impeachment proceedings are currently on hold as the House awaits the Supreme Court’s (SC) resolution of a motion for reconsideration (MR) filed by the 20th Congress on the high court’s ruling on the first impeachment complaint against Vice President Duterte.

“It is very important for the [SC] to resolve this MR because this will provide the next steps for Congress in the event that an impeachment complaint is filed by the 6th of February, 2026,” Ridon explained.

He noted that the House expects the SC to act within the next three to four weeks, now that the Bar examinations have concluded and the court’s calendar has eased.

Ridon said the outcome of the MR will determine whether the Senate will be compelled to resume the impeachment proceedings and hold Duterte's impeachment trial, or whether the House will have to process new impeachment complaints under revised rules mandated by the SC.

The 19th Congress impeachment complaint--transmitted to the Senate last Feb. 5, 2025--was declared unconstitutional by the SC.