Solon downplays Sara Duterte’s ‘alliance-building’ moves ahead of trial (2025)

MANILA, Philippines— La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V is not bothered by Vice President Sara Duterte’s supposed attempt to build alliances in the 2025 midterm elections for her impeachment trial, noting that the evidence gathered against her is strong enough.

Ortega was asked in an interview with reporters covering the House on Monday if he was still confident that the prosecution team would secure a conviction against Duterte, even after she has started to endorse senatorial candidates in the upcoming polls.

According to Ortega, the evidence gathered during the House committee on good government and public accountability and at the budget briefings is strong enough. He noted that Duterte may just be trying to influence possible winners in the senatorial race.

“Well, we have strong evidence as seen during the committee hearings on good government and the previous budget briefings. But as I have said, we cannot help but think that this is an attempt to influence possible senator-judges, to have an influence should their endorsement result in wins,” he said in Filipino.

“But for me, the obligation of senator-judges is to the people, not to a single person or politician. Their accountability is to the people, and the entire Philippines will see how they handle the proceedings like the impeachment,” Ortega added.

Ortega also said that it is not surprising that Duterte went back on her word to refrain from endorsing senatorial aspirants. He said this is not the first time that the Vice President said something only to do otherwise.

‘Political strategy’

“We all know what she said since the pronouncements were made on television, that she will not endorse senatorial bets or other candidates because she will leave the decision to pick the right candidates to the people. But true to the same form, true to her form, she acted differently compared to her pronouncements,” he said.

“Definitely that’s their political strategy,” he added.

Duterte said in November 2024 that she would not endorse any candidate, whether for the local or national race, due to her experience in the 2022 national elections. That’s when she supposedly endorsed candidates who turned out to be bad for the country.

READ: Sara says she won’t endorse bets in ’25 polls

However, the 2025 midterm elections were seen to be crucial to the impeachment trial against Duterte, as the Senate of the 20th Congress would conduct the proceedings. No less than the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP), the party of Duterte’s father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, appealed to voters to elect senatorial bets who would prevent a conviction, as they will sit as senator-judges.

READ: PDP-Laban seeks votes to save Sara for 2028

Duterte was impeached by the House last February 5, after 215 lawmakers filed and verified a fourth impeachment complaint.

The articles of impeachment were immediately transmitted to the Senate, as the 1987 Constitution requires a trial to start forthwith if at least one-third of all House members — in this case, 102 out of 306 — have signed and endorsed the petition.

Under the Constitution, the Senate will act as an impeachment court with sitting senators serving as judges.

The impeachment of Duterte was largely based on the House hearings conducted in 2024, where allegations of confidential fund (CF) misuse within the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education were revealed.

Mary Grace Piattos

At one point in the hearings, Antipolo City 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop noticed that one of the acknowledgement receipts (ARs) for the OVP’s CF expenditures was signed by a certain Mary Grace Piattos, who he said bears a name similar to a restaurant and a potato chip brand.

ARs are proof of payment or that funding for projects reached its intended beneficiaries — and in the case of OVP and DepEd, these are informants who provided confidential information to authorities.

Later on, Lanao del Sur 1st District Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong showed two ARs — one for OVP and another for DepEd — which were both received by Villamin.However, the signatures and handwriting used by Villamin in the two documents differed.

Both Piattos and Villamin’s names did not appear on the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) database.

READ: House probe: OVP, DepEd CFs received by same man, different signatures

Over the past few months, lawmakers, particularly Ortega and members of the panel, have revealed that there were more peculiar names on ARs, like seemingly combined names of grocery items and other names that sounded like a phone brand — Xiaome Ocho.