The answer submitted by Vice President Sara Duterte to the impeachment complaints against her fell short of engaging the actual charges, according to the chairperson of the House Committee on Justice.
Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro said the document filed by Duterte’s legal team resembled a motion to dismiss rather than a substantive reply, which she described as procedurally out of place.
“While I was reading the answer, it looked like a motion to dismiss. It is clear in the rules on impeachment of the House of Representatives that a motion to dismiss is a prohibited pleading in impeachment proceedings,” Luistro said in a radio interview Tuesday.
Instead of responding to the specific allegations in the complaints — filed by members of the clergy and lawyer Nathaniel Cabrera — Duterte’s counsel reportedly questioned the legitimacy of holding proceedings at the justice committee level altogether.
Luistro said the committee had already settled the question of sufficiency. On March 5, the panel voted 54–1 to find both complaints sufficient in form and substance, with Quezon City 4th District Rep. Bong Suntay casting the lone dissenting vote.
She cited the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Merceditas Gutierrez case, which established that sufficiency determinations rest on the individual judgment of committee members.
“We respect the opinion of the camp of the Vice President, but of course we’ve been very cautious in complying with our rules. The members voted, and we have to understand that in matters of sufficiency in form and substance, the ruling in Merceditas Gutierrez dictates that this is based on the exclusive judgment of individual members,” she said.
Among the issues Luistro said the Vice President’s response failed to address were allegations surrounding the use of confidential funds and questions about her Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.
The committee is set to meet Wednesday, March 18, where members are expected to take up unresolved preliminary matters before hearings on the merits can proceed — including questions about the entry of appearance of lawyers Michael Wesley Poa and Reynold Munsayac, both of whom previously held positions in the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President respectively.
“If there are concerns from justice committee members about the entry of appearance of Atty. Poa and Atty. Munsayac, it must be discussed this Wednesday so that, when it comes to the determination of sufficiency in grounds, we can proceed to the hearing proper,” Luistro said.
