• GILBERT P. BAYORAN
Twelve Negros Island Region solons were among the 257 members of the House of Representatives who voted for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
The House of Representatives approved on Monday the justice committee report that found probable cause in the complaints against Duterte, who made history by becoming the first Philippine official to be impeached twice.
The 12 NIR solons include Negros Occidental Representatives Julio Ledesma IV, Alfredo Marañon III, Javier Miguel Benitez and his father Deputy Speaker and Bacolod Rep. Alfredo Abelardo Benitez, Jeffrey Ferrer, Emilio Bernardino Yulo, Mercedes Alvarez, Abang Lingkod party-list Rep. Manuel Frederick Ko, Negros Oriental Reps. Emmanuel Iway, Maria Isabel Sagarbarria, and Janice Degamo, as well as Siquijor Rep. Zaldy Villa.
The elder Benitez earlier predicted that all the lawmakers in the Negros Island Region will vote for the indictment of VP Sara in the House of Representatives.
Twenty five lawmakers voted against the impeachment of Duterte, while nine others abstained.
Only one third, or 106 of the 318 House members are needed to approve the articles of impeachment against Duterte, after which the case against her will be transmitted to the Senate for trial.
In a statement, Caritas Philippines president and San Carlos Bishop Gerardo Alminaza called on lawmakers to treat the impeachment proceedings not as a political strategy, but as a constitutional responsibility grounded in fairness and justice.
Alminaza emphasized that the process should focus on determining accountability based on credible evidence, rather than political convenience or maneuvering. He also pointed to public sentiment, citing a March 2026 survey indicating that 69 percent of Filipinos support the impeachment process.
“Our people have expressed their desire and hope that the Vice-President should face the charges against her in the impeachment complaint,” he said. “This is an expression of our people’s desire and hope that there be a credible mechanism and process to hold our public officials accountable.”*
