The House of Representatives is expected to take up in plenary on Monday afternoon, May 11 the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, with the respondent's potential second impeachment in two years hanging in the balance.

The plenary proceedings will tackle Committee Report (CR) No. 261 that was approved by the House Committee on Justice after weeks of hearings into allegations involving confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, and threats against top government officials.

Panel chairperson, Batangas 2nd district Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro is set to sponsor and defend before the plenary the findings, evidence, and proceedings that led to the unanimous approval of the impeachment report at the committee level.

“We are anticipating that this coming Monday, we will be given the opportunity to defend the committee report, to defend the findings of probable cause, to defend the articles of impeachment,” Luistro said on Sunday, May 10.

The Committee on Justice earlier voted unanimously, 53-0, to find probable cause to impeach Duterte and later overwhelmingly approved, 55-0, the committee report and resolution setting forth the articles of impeachment for plenary deliberations.

Luistro said congressmen can expect intense debates on both the panel’s findings and the conduct of the proceedings, but at the same time stressed that the justice committee was ready to answer questions from House members.

The length of these debates will ultimately determine whether or not the adoption of the four articles of impeachment would be put to a vote Monday, or during the following session days. Session days are only held from Monday to Wednesday.

Under the Constitution, at least one-third of all House members — or 106 votes out of the 318-member chamber — is needed to elevate the articles to the Senate for an impeachment trial. This action from the House effectively impeaches Duterte.

"A vote of 106 House members is already enough to solicit the approval of the committee report, the resolution, as well as the Articles of Impeachment," Luistro earlier said.

Luistro said the voting would be done through nominal voting, with each House member individually called to publicly cast a yes or no vote.

“I believe that the House of Representatives should be able to show as well the unanimity of their position the same way that the Justice Committee was able to show the same,” said the Batangueña.

Luistro said the plenary discussions would center on the four articles of impeachment that were consolidated from the allegations raised in the Saballa et al and Cabrera impeachment complaints filed last February against Duterte.

The first article involves the alleged misuse and irregular disbursement of confidential funds under both the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) during Duterte’s tenure as Education secretary.

During the justice panel hearings, solons examined the alleged questionable utilization of P612.5 million in confidential funds — P500 million under the OVP and P112.5 million under the DepEd.

The second article focuses on allegations of unexplained wealth and discrepancies involving Duterte’s Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALNs) and bank transactions flagged by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

During the proceedings, the justice panel reviewed AMLC findings showing 663 covered and suspicious transactions totaling about P6.77 billion allegedly linked to Duterte and her husband, lawyer Manases “Mans” Carpio.

The hearings also examined Duterte’s SALNs, which reflected declared net worth increasing from P7.25 million in 2007 to P88.51 million in 2024.

The third article concerns allegations of bribery tied to cash envelopes reportedly distributed to DepEd officials during Duterte’s time as education secretary.

Lawmakers received testimony and records involving alleged P50,000 cash envelopes labeled “HOPE", which were allegedly handed to officials connected to procurement functions within the department.

The fourth article centers on Duterte’s controversial remarks in November 2024 in which she publicly stated that she had arranged for President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and then-Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez to be killed should anything happen to her.

As per insider reports, between 200 and 215 House members--possible more--have already committed to vote in favor of Duterte's impeachment.

These reports were further bolstered Sunday by justice committee member Manila 3rd district Rep. Joel Chua.

“Kung conservative ang bilang, may 200 na mambabatas na nakakausap tayo na nag-signify ng kanilang support. Sa tingin ko mas marami pa riyan, pero doon muna tayo sa conservative number,” Chua said.

(If we go by a conservative count, there are about 200 lawmakers we have spoken to who signified their support. I believe there are more, but let us stick to the conservative number for now.)

So intriguing is the plenary vote that there are even reports of informal bettings on what the final vote count would be.

Chua said the House record already establishes more than enough basis for probable cause. He highlighted that the respondent’s camp failed to place any counter-evidence on record before the committee.

“Ang walang ebidensiyang naipakita ay sila, dahil kahit minsan ay hindi sila um-attend. Pero insofar as the complainant is concerned, more than probable cause ang lumalabas sa mga ebidensiyang nailatag,” he said.

(The ones who have shown no evidence are them, since they never attended even once. But insofar as the complainant is concerned, the evidence presented points to more than probable cause.)

If and when the House votes to impeach Duterte, Chua said the transmittal of the Articles to the Senate should follow quickly. “Hindi ko man masabi na ura-urada, but anytime within that week, sigurado mata-transmit iyan."

(I cannot say it will be immediate, but anytime within that week, it will surely be transmitted.)