ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider 'Copy-and-paste pwede na?': Ridon says impeachment complaint vs VP Duterte could be filed 'as is'

'Copy-and-paste pwede na?': Ridon says impeachment complaint vs VP Duterte could be filed 'as is'

Published Feb 1, 2026 02:27 pm

At A Glance

  • It seems that the imminent filing of new impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte could be reduced to a simple case of copy-and-paste.
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook, PPAB)
Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon (left), Vice President Sara Duterte (Facebook, PPAB)


It seems that the imminent filing of new impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte could be reduced to a simple case of copy-and-paste.
This, after Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said that the 19th Congress complaint lodged by the House of Representatives against the lady official--the same one that was subsequently struck down by the Supreme Court (SC)--was yet to be tested in terms of its merits.
“Oo, pwede po i-file as is po ‘yan sa totoo lang, kasi wala naman hong debate sa form, wala pong debate sa substansya (Yes, that can be filed as is to be honest, since there is no debate on the form, no debate on the substance),,” Ridon, a lawyer, said in a news forum in Quezon City over the weekend.
He said that while the SC En Banc's decision last Jan. 29 defeated with finality the 19th Congress impeachment complaint, this was only on the basis of technicalities in procedure. The facts cited in the earlier complaint remain unchanged, he said.
“So in a refiling of Vice President impeachment case, I don’t think the facts have changed from last year. We’re still going to be talking about the use of confidential funds and death threats against the President, the First Lady and the former House Speaker,” Ridon said.
Ridon says it's unclear whether or not the fresh complaints to be filed against Vice President Duterte would contain new arguments or grounds for her ouster.
The seven articles of impeachment against Vice President Duterte in the 19th Congress complaint are as follows: Conspiracy to assassinate President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and Speaker Martin Romualdez; Malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds; Bribery and corruption in Department of Education (DepEd); Unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; Involvement in extrajudicial killings (EJK); Destabilization, insurrection, and public disorder; and the totality of respondent's conduct as Vice President.
In the same news forum, Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua agreed with Ridon that the allegations against Duterte remained unresolved.
"Hindi din nila denesisyunan ang substansya ng impeachment complaint. Ang pinag-usapan dito ay sheer technicality (They also did not decide on the substance of the impeachment complaint. What was discussed here was sheer technicality),” Chua, also a lawyer, said.
The February 2025 complaint against the Vice President was pursued via the "fast track" mode in plenary, where at least one-third of the 300-strong chamber signed the complaint.
The SC--responding to a petition from the Duterte camp--took issue with some details of the process and declared the complaint unconstitutional later that July. The House filed a motion for reconsideration (MR), but this was denied by the SC in its ruling last Thursday.
The Makabayan bloc in the House of Representatives earlier announced that it would lodge a new complaint against the Vice President once the one-year prohibition on such filing lapses on Feb. 6.
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.