By Benjamin Cuaresma
The House prosecution panel on Tuesday dropped three of the four Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, narrowing its case to allegations of unexplained wealth arising from the non-full declaration of assets and failure to divest business interests.
Batangas 2nd District Representative Gerville Luistro, the House prosecution panel’s lead prosecutor, announced that the prosecution would pursue only Article II, which centers on the allegations of unexplained wealth.
“It will no longer pursue three of them. It will only stand on one: Article II of unexplained wealth,” Luistro said.
The prosecution maintained that the evidence presented was sufficient to warrant Duterte’s removal from office.
“We believe we have presented sufficient evidence that warrants the removal from office for culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust,” Luistro added.
The decision removes three major allegations from the prosecution’s case: Article I, involving confidential funds; Article III, concerning bribery; and Article IV, involving alleged threats against President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
With the prosecution narrowing its case to Article II, the allegations concerning Duterte’s declared assets and business interests will remain at the center of the proceedings.
The House of Representatives impeached Duterte in May 2026 over allegations that included culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery and other high crimes.
The Senate impeachment court began hearing the case on July 6.
The prosecution’s decision to abandon three articles marks a significant narrowing of the impeachment case, leaving the allegation of unexplained wealth as the sole remaining basis it intends to pursue against the Vice President.
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