The Lower House impeached Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time after over one third of the members voted on the impeachment complaint against her on Monday.

During the first regular session of the House of Representatives, a total of 257 lawmakers voted for the impeachment of the vice president while 25 were against and nine others abstained.

The number of congressmen who voted for the impeachment of Duterte increased this year compared to 215 who endorsed the articles of her impeachment to the Senate for trial in 2025.

In a statement after the result of voting in the House of Representative was announced, Duterte's defense counsel noted that they are "aware of the action taken by the plenary."

"With that vote to transmit the Articles of Impeachment, the burden now rests on the accusers to substantiate their claims in accordance with the Constitution, the law, and rules on evidence," it stated.

"While questions of constitutional significance remain pending before the Supreme Court, we are fully prepared to defend the Vice President before the Senate sitting as an Impeachment Court, where it is incumbent upon the Prosecution to discharge the burden of proof," it added.

In his interpellation before the voting at the Lower House, Batangas 1st District Rep. Leandro Antonio Leviste asked his colleagues if the statement of Senator Imee Marcos is true, that some members of Congress got two millions pesos break bonuses or additional Maintenance and Other Operating Expenses (MOOEs) on March 18" and that "those who vote for the impeachment will get 20 million pesos".

"I just want to make it clear if this is true or not because if it is true then it should be made public because if some are getting the 20 million and others are not getting the 20 million, then it should be fair that everyone who votes gets 20 million and those who do not vote hopefully should also be given that, because this is taxpayers money and should not be allocated on the basis of your vote on the impeachment," he said.

Leviste also clarified if it is "true that those who vote against the impeachment will lose benefits for their vote".

"No one should lose their benefits for their vote today and lastly I would to ask if the House Committee on Accounts and the DBM (Department of Budget and Management) can release all data on the budgetary releases or MOOE or for infrastructure or for any other budgets so that we can ascertain weather it is true or not, what Senator Imee Marcos said," he added.

However, all the allegations of Senator Marcos were "categorically denied" by the majority leader during the session. Robina Asido/PHS