MANILA — A member of the House justice committee expressed confidence Sunday that the House of Representatives can secure sufficient votes to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.

At a news forum in Quezon City, Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon said the House justice panel has already secured 53 votes to establish probable cause for impeachment.

“Ang kailangan lang naman namin is 106 votes to impeach [Duterte] and to send it to the Senate. Tingin ko naman ay that is a number that will not be difficult to surmount at makuha,” Ridon said.

He noted that the House needs at least one-third of its 318 members, or 106 votes, to impeach the Vice President.

“Kung ang minimum requirement lang ay 106, tingin ko hindi na ‘yun mahirap gawin,” he added.

Ridon also said the panel aims to secure as many as 215 votes, citing a previous impeachment effort.

“At the very best we would want to get at the very least 215 minimum number of votes, which is we had gotten the last time noong first impeachment hearing,” he said.

He recalled that the House had previously voted to impeach Duterte with 215 votes, exceeding the required threshold, but the case was later archived by the Senate following a Supreme Court ruling declaring the Articles of Impeachment unconstitutional due to alleged violations of the one-year bar rule and due process rights.

Ridon said lawmakers will ultimately be allowed to decide based on conscience and evidence.

“Ang House justice panel will let members of the House of Representatives decide for themselves based on conscience, based on the evidence presented,” he said.

He added that the justice panel found probable cause for impeachment after four hearings, citing several pieces of evidence presented during the proceedings.

Among these were allegations involving the alleged distribution of P125 million in confidential funds, bank secrecy waivers, accusations linking campaign funding to Pharmally, and Commission on Audit findings on disallowed confidential fund use.

The panel also cited testimonies regarding questionable receipts, records showing individuals with no civil registry records receiving funds, and statements from the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) on flagged transactions involving Duterte and her family.

Other allegations included undeclared assets, suspicious financial transactions, and claims linking Duterte and her husband to various investigations and reports cited during congressional hearings.

Ridon said the committee will consolidate two verified complaints into a single Articles of Impeachment, which will be included in a committee report to be distributed to all members of the House, the complainants, and Duterte herself.

The committee is scheduled to meet on May 4 at 10 a.m. to approve the report and Articles of Impeachment before transmission to the plenary.

“Sa darating pong Lunes magkakaroon ng committee meeting to approve the committee report kasama na po doon ang Articles of Impeachment from the consolidated complaints, after which within the week, next week, mailalagay na po ‘yun sa plenaryo for deliberation,” Ridon said.

“Ibig sabihin, lahat ng miyembro mabibigyan ng kopya ng Articles of Impeachment annexes and evidence. Mabibigyan din ng kopya ang Pangalawang Pangulo bilang bahagi ng due process requirements ng Korte Suprema. So magkakaroon ng debate roon, malaya ang lahat na magtalakayan at makipag-debate on the committee report and Articles of Impeachment. And then there will be a vote,” he added.

Ridon said the House aims to transmit the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate within the next two weeks, which would formally trigger Senate proceedings.