The House panel that will prosecute Sara Duterte: A brief glance
Senate President Francis “Chiz” G. Escudero on Thursday, May 15, 2025, unveiled one of the Oxford crimson robes to be worn by senators when they sit as judges for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. PHOTO FROM SENATE FB
MANILA, Philippines—To say that a lot can happen in a week’s time is an understatement, especially in relation to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Originally, the House of Representatives prosecution team was scheduled to present the articles of impeachment at the Senate plenary on June 2 — or when the 19th Congress resumes session. After the rescheduling of the article presentation, the public was expecting this to be presented on June 11, or the last session day for the 19th Congress..
But in just a few days, there were already fears that first, an impeachment trial would not push through if a resolution seeking the dismissal of the cases was approved; and second, that a trial might last only 19 days—June 11 to June 30.
Then on Monday, after hours of deliberations, Senate President Francis Escudero took his oath as the presiding officer of the trial.
Regardless of the uncertainty, here is a brief rundown on the key personalities on the prosecution side and how they helped craft the impeachment complaint against Duterte.
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Marcelino Libanan —CONGRESS.GOV.PH
Minority Leader Marcelino Libanan
4Ps party-list representative
Bachelor of Laws, Divine Word University Tacloban
Libanan is currently the minority leader of the House and was also designated as the lead prosecutor for the prosecution team. While Libanan was silent on the first three impeachment complaints filed in December 2024, he was one of the 215 lawmakers who filed and signed the fourth impeachment complaint against Duterte.
The minority leader has notably been critical of the Dutertes, including Vice President Duterte, especially after she skipped the budget deliberations of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) in the House committee on appropriations.
In November 2024, after the vice president said she had contacted someone to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez, Libanan said Sara Duterte should heed the advice of her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, to leave politics.
According to Libanan, Vice President Duterte lacks “the gumption and the grace required of a national leader.”
READ: House leader to VP Sara: Heed father’s advice to get out of politics
In the heat of the discussions on whether the Senate should quickly start impeachment proceedings, Libanan said the Senate can convene even if Congress is on a break, as its impeachment role is different from its legislative functions.
READ: Senate can start VP impeachment proceedings – lead prosecutor
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Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop —Photo from Facebook
Rep. Romeo Acop
Antipolo 2nd District
Chairperson, House committee on transportation
Philippine Military Academy Magiting Class of 1970
Bachelor of Laws, Jose Rizal University
Acop is another lawmaker who did not speak about the first impeachment complaints filed in December 2024. However, he is also critical of Duterte, saying in October 2024 that the vice president appeared overwhelmed by anger when she said that she daydreamed about cutting President Marcos’ head off.
READ: VP Sara Duterte’s outburst shows flaw in her character – Acop
Acop has also criticized the Dutertes, particularly former president Duterte, after the House’s quad committee tagged the family patriarch as being at the center of a “grand criminal enterprise.”
READ: Acop: Quad comm uncovers Duterte’s link to ‘grand criminal enterprise’
But perhaps Acop’s biggest contribution to the impeachment complaint was his questioning at the hearing of the House committee on good government and public accountability when lawmakers discovered Mary Grace Piattos.
Acop was the first lawmaker to note that weird names were signing off the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for the confidential fund (CF) expenses made by Duterte’s offices. ARs are submitted to the Commission on Audit to prove that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries, which in this case, are confidential informants.
According to Acop, one of the individuals who signed the ARs was a certain Mary Grace Piattos, a name similar to a restaurant and a chip brand.
Piattos’ name was not found in the live birth, marriage, and death registry of the Philippine Statistics Authority. It was included in the articles of impeachment.
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Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of Atty. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro
Rep. Gerville Luistro
Batangas 2nd District
Vice Chairperson, House committee on justice
Bachelor of Laws, University of Batangas
Luistro has been picked by the prosecution team to present the articles of impeachment at the Senate plenary.
Like Acop, Luistro played a huge role in unearthing issues against Duterte’s offices during the House committee on good government hearings, as her interpellation led to the admission from former Education Undersecretary Gloria Jumamil Mercado that she received envelopes with money from the vice president.
Mercado said she felt that the envelopes were meant to influence her, as she was the head of the procuring entity of the Department of Education (DepEd)
READ: Alleged ‘envelopes’ from Duterte may have aimed to influence ex-DepEd Usec
It was also Luistro who called for an investigation into the issues hounding DepEd during the time of Duterte, like its low budget utilization, and alleged procurement of overpriced information and communication technology (ICT) materials and food items for feeding programs.
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Rep. Joel Chua —HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES PHOTO.
Rep. Joel Chua
Manila 3rd District
Chairperson, House committee on good government and public accountability
Bachelor of Laws, San Sebastian College-Recoletos
Chua, as chairperson of the committee, presided over the hearings, which yielded several pieces of evidence against Duterte. Acop and Luistro’s discoveries were made during the discussions, and it was also Chua who refrained from asking the vice president questions when she refused to take her oath to tell the truth.
Duterte’s outbursts in November 2024 were indirect results of the committee hearings: during a previous meeting, Duterte’s chief-of-staff, Undersecretary Zuleika Lopez, was cited for contempt for undue interference in the hearings, as she refrained from giving the House the audit observations on OVP’s CF expenses.
On November 22, Duterte visited Lopez before eventually locking herself inside the office of her brother, Davao City 1st District Rep. Paolo Duterte.
Due to the security problems that came with Duterte staying inside the Batasang Pambansa, the House committee decided to transfer Lopez to the Correctional Institute for Women. After this, Duterte held a press briefing, badmouthing the First Couple and Romualdez.
The vice president also claimed that she has already asked someone to assassinate the three in case she gets killed.
READ: Sara Duterte’s kill remark vs Marcos is ‘active threat’ – Palace
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Representative Lorenz Defensor. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Rep. Lorenz Defensor
Iloilo 3rd District
Deputy Majority Leader
Bachelor of Laws, University of Santo Tomas
Constitutional Law Lecturer, Manuel L. Quezon University
Defensor has been one of the more outspoken members of the prosecution team, often appearing before the media to address questions and concerns about the impeachment proceedings.
The lawmaker repeatedly said that they subscribe to the idea that the Senate, when it sits as an impeachment court, is just like any other trial court in the sense that it would not lose jurisdiction of the case, whether judges resign or get promoted and reappointed.
READ: Sara Duterte impeachment will go on through next congress, says solon
Defensor also ensured that the impeachment proceedings would be shielded from politics, noting that the trial should not be a bloodbath like what Duterte said, but a contest of evidence, noting that the prosecution panel has the evidence to convict the vice president.
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San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of Atty Bel Zamora
Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora
San Juan Lone District
Assistant Majority Leader
Juris Doctor, University of the Philippines
Another member of the prosecution team who has been highly visible, giving the media relevant information is Zamora. Zamora has spoken on different issues as early as February — like insisting that the Senate does not need a special session to convene as an impeachment court.
READ: Zamora: Special session not needed for Senate to convene as impeachment court
Last Friday, Zamora also maintained that the prosecution team will push forward with the presentation of the articles of impeachment regardless of what happens in the Senate. She also debunked rumors that the House will pull out the articles — noting that this will be unconstitutional since the 1987 Constitution does not provide mechanisms to withdraw a verified complaint.
READ: Prosecution to present impeachment articles no matter what – Zamora
Zamora also assured the public that the prosecution team will still pursue the impeachment proceedings with the same vigor, even as President Marcos himself declared willingness to reconcile with the Dutertes.
READ: Ysabel Zamora: Prosecution to pursue Sara conviction `with same vigor’
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1-Rider Party-list Representative Rodge Gutierrez (Screengrab/PNA PHOTO)
Rep. Rodge Gutierrez
1-Rider party-list
Juris Doctor, Ateneo de Manila
Gutierrez is the youngest member of the prosecution panel, both in age and length of tenure in Congress. Just in his first term, Gutierrez has taken an important role during committee hearings, being one of the first to explore possible criminal liability for the alleged misuse of CFs.
On November 26, 2024, Gutierrez said that the decision of special disbursing officers (SDOs) from the OVP and the DepEd to cede disbursement responsibilities to security officers can be considered technical malversation.
Gutierrez was referring to admissions from OVP’s SDO Gina Acosta that she left the release of CFs to Vice Presidential Security and Protection Group (VPSPG) chief Col. Raymund Dante Lachica upon Vice President Duterte’s orders.
Aside from Acosta, former DepEd SDO Edward Fajarda said that Duterte — when she was still education secretary — designated Col. Dennis Nolasco as the official responsible for disbursing the CFs.
On March 25, Gutierrez accompanied Libanan to the Senate to file a motion asking the Senate to require Duterte to file an official answer to the articles of impeachment sent to the Senate last February.
READ: Solons ask Senate to order VP Duterte to answer the impeachment raps
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Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores (left) and Rep. Arnan Panaligan. (Photo from Philippine Embassy in The Netherlands/City Government of Calapan)
Rep. Jonathan Keith Flores
Bukidnon 2nd District
Vice Chairperson, House committee on justice
Bachelor of Laws, Ateneo de Davao University
Rep. Arnan Panaligan
Oriental Mindoro 1st District
Assistant Majority Leader
Bachelor of Laws, Ateneo de Manila Law School
Flores and Panaligan have been relatively silent about their appointment as impeachment prosecutors, with Flores’ comments on the case being limited to technicalities and concerns of time constraints.
READ: VP impeachment proceedings facing time constraints, says solon
However, both lawmakers have been key members of different House panels — including the committee on good government and the quad committee.
Flores was one of the lawmakers who filed a bill seeking to ban Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), in adherence to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s directives. The quad committee investigated illegal activities in Pogos and alleged human rights violations in the drug war — two things connected to the administration of Duterte’s father.
Panaligan, as assistant majority leader, defended bills passed by the majority, like the recently approved bill that seeks to extend the term of elected officials under the Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan system.
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Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon (left) and Rep. Loreto Acharon. (Photo from House of Representatives of the Philippines/FACEBOOK & WEBSITE)
Rep. Raul Angelo Bongalon
Ako Bicol party-list
Assistant Majority Leader
Juris Doctor, University of Santo Tomas Faculty of Civil Law
Rep. Loreto Acharon
General Santos Lone District
Assistant Majority Leader
Bachelor of Laws, Ateneo de Manila Law School
Both Bongalon and Acharon are expected to attend the presentation of articles of impeachment against Duterte in the Senate, but both will no longer be part of the prosecution team should the trial stretch into the 20th Congress.
Bongalon, who ran for the seat of the first legislative district of Albay during the 2025 midterm elections, lost to Tabaco City Mayor Krisel Lagman, the daughter of late Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman.
Acharon lost to Representative-elect Shirlyn Bañas, who was fielded by Partido Demokratiko Pilipino — the party of former president Duterte.
Bongalon, who is also vice chairperson of the House committee on appropriations, repeatedly called out Vice President Duterte for skipping the budget deliberations of her office. According to Bongalon, Duterte can resign if she is not interested, after the vice president was reportedly seen on a beach vacation on the day of the OVP’s budget hearing.
READ: VP Duterte can resign if she’s not interested in post, says lawmaker
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Representative-elect Jose Manuel Diokno (left) and Representative-elect Leila de Lima. (Photo from Senate PRIB/INQUIRER files)
Representative-elect Jose Manuel Diokno
Akbayan party-list
Juris Doctor, Northern Illinois University
Founding Dean, De La Salle University College of Law
Chairperson, Free Legal Assistance Group
Representative-elect Leila de Lima
Mamamayang Liberal party-list
Bachelor of Laws, San Beda College of Law
Former Commission on Human Rights chairperson
Former Justice secretary
Diokno and De Lima would be the two new additions to the prosecution team if the trial crosses over to the 20th Congress. Both bring not only years of legal experience, but a staunch critique of the Dutertes.
De Lima was the spokesperson for the group that was first to file the impeachment complaints against Duterte, explaining how they were able to translate issues faced by the vice president into articles of impeachment.
Diokno has been critical of former president Duterte’s drug war, telling the House committee on human rights in June 2024 that the Duterte administration’s Office of the President listed the death of 20,322 drug war casualties among its accomplishments in a 2017 report.
READ: Diokno: Duterte’s OP listed 20,322 drug-war deaths as accomplishments
Last May 14, both De Lima and Diokno accepted the House leadership’s invite to join the prosecution panel. According to De Lima, Speaker Romualdez called her to extend the invitation, and she accepted it because she believes that public officers must be held accountable for their actions./tsb
