Senior Deputy Majority Leader Iloilo 3rd district Rep. Lorenz Defensor has acknowledged that the House of Representatives' recent plenary move on Vice President Sara Duterte's impeachment was more strategic than it appeared to be.

During plenary session Wednesday, May 6, Deputy Majority Leader and Sorsogon lone Rep. Bernadette Escudero announced on the floor that the resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment against Duterte was already included in the Calendar of Business.

“Mr. Speaker, I move to direct the Secretary General to immediately furnish the members electronic copies of Committee Report (CR) No. 261 containing [House Resolution] No. 989, including its annexes, through their respective registered email addresses, post electronic copies in downloadable form…in the House websites and distribute to the members printed copies,” Escudero said.

Defensor explained the importance of this move over the weekend. He said it was in response to the Supreme Court’s (SC) ruling on the 2025 impeachment proceedings against Duterte, which emphasized the need to observe "due process".

“Sa desisyon nila bagama’t sabi namin kung mga congressman ang pumirma dapat diretsong umakyat na. Sabi nila hindi kami nag-observe ng due process. Ngayon, napaka-ingat ng House of Representatives. Sinunod namin every instruction,” he said.

(In their decision,In their decision, even though we said that if congressmen signed it should have gone straight up, they claimed we did not observe due process. Now, the House of Representatives is extremely cautious. We followed every instruction.)

The lawyer-legislator was referring to Duterte’s impeachment via the constitutional "fast track" mode on Feb. 5, 2025, when 215 House members signed an impeachment complaint and had it sent directly to the Senate.

However, this particular complaint was ultimately declared unconstitutional by the SC on a technicality.

For this year's impeachment proceedings, the House went through the more methodical committee track wherein the filed complaints against Duterte were tested for sufficiency in form, in substance, and on the presence of probable cause.

Of the four impeachment complaints filed against the lady official this year, two met all the requirements to potentially prosper into a case for a full-blown Senate trial.

Defensor said all 318 House members have already received copies of the impeachment materials--including the four articles of impeachment--in both printed and digital form.

“All members may kopya na. May hard copy, may soft copy (All members have their copies. There is both a hard copy and a soft copy),” he said.

The Iloilo lawmaker said the impeachment document runs around 93 pages, but noted that the House Committee on Justice prepared summaries for every article and allegation to make the material easier to understand for lawmakers and the public alike.

“Every allegation or article has a summary…The Committee on Justice prepared it and ensured that every congressman, abogado man o hindi, maiintindihan nila ang articles of impeachment. Maiintindihan ng taong bayan,” he said.

(The Committee on Justice prepared it and ensured that every congressman, whether a lawyer or not, would understand the articles of impeachment. The people would understand them too.)

Defensor also underscored the transparency of the impeachment proceedings. He said the justice committee withheld no evidence or records from public scrutiny throughout the hearings.

“I’m sure the committee has made available kasi dapat makita din ng mga tao. Pero if you look at the impeachment hearings walang tinago na kahit anong dokumento,” he said.

(I’m sure the committee has made it available because the people should also see it. And if you look at the impeachment hearings, not a single document was concealed.)

The articles of impeachment stem from findings involving the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds, as well as alleged bribery and corruption of Department of Education (DepEd) officials.

The articles also cite alleged unexplained wealth and discrepancies in the Vice President’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth; Anti-Money Laundering Council-flagged transactions amounting to nearly P6.8 billion; and her alleged threats against President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.