Aware of the battle for hearts and minds on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment proceedings among netizens, Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville "Jinky Bitrics" Luistro stressed on Monday, March 2 that social media wasn't the proper venue to resolve the case.

Rather, the high-stakes impeachment proceedings will be decided through evidence-based deliberations in the House of Representatives, initially by the Committee on Justice, which he chairs.

“So let me say this clearly: Impeachment is a constitutional process—not a social media contest. Hindi hashtag ang magpapasya dito. Hindi meme ang maghahatol. Hindi ito paramihan ng like (This won't be decided by hashtags. This won't be judged by memes. This isn't a contest for the most likes),” Luistro said in her speech before the committee on Monday morning.

Monday was the first day that the verified and endorsed impeachment complaints against Vice President Duterte were discussed by the justice panel. This, after they were officially initiated last week through plenary action.

Luistro also advised her colleagues to be careful in discharging their constitutional duty of deliberating on the impeachment case amid the era of disinformation and fake news.

“Ang tungkulin ay hindi pinipili—ito ay ginagampanan. Lalo na ngayong panahon na laganap ang fake news, mas lalo tayong dapat maging maingat at matatag. Mas lalong hindi magpapatinag,” she said.

(Duty is not chosen—it is carried out. Especially fake news is widespread, we must be even more steadfast. We will not be shaken.)

“Kapag kumakalat ang fake news, hindi sapat ang manahimik. Ang tamang sagot ay wastong proseso. Ang kailangan natin ay simulan itong proseso ng pagsusuri, nang sa gayon ay magkaroon tayo ng linaw at hindi maligaw sa maling impormasyon,” underscored the Batangas solon.

(When fake news spreads, silence is not enough. The proper response is due process. We must start this process of scrutinization so that we may gain clarity and not get lost via wrong information.)

It was only last Feb. 18 Vice President Duterte declared her intention to run for president. She remains popular despite being the target of various impeachment raps.

This is the second straight year that the House of Representatives is seeking the impeachment of the controversial official from Davao City. Although Duterte was successfully impeached in 2025 via the "fast-track" mode, the Senate never held an impeachment trial against her.

The Supreme Court (SC) eventually declared the articles of impeachment prepared by the House as unconstitutional, but only due to a technicality.

Luistro also addressed false information circulating on social media that the SC already decided on the merits of last year's complaint against the Vice President.

The committee chairperson said the court’s July 2025 ruling, which struck down the House impeachment efforts, was limited to the constitutional one-year bar rule.

“It emphasized that it did not absolved the Vice President from any of the charges. Those are not my words; those are the [SC]’s own clarifications,” she said.

“To suggest therefore that the allegations have already been resolved on the merits is legally incorrect….So my dear colleagues, let us discharge this duty, walang short cut, walang paunang paghuhusga, tanging katapatan lamang sa Saligang Batas (no short cut, no prejudgement, only loyalty to the Constitution),” she said.