If you’ve been trying to keep up with the impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte this year, you are not alone in finding it difficult. Between the legal maneuvering, the hearings, the witnesses, and the sheer volume of numbers being thrown around, it can be hard to know where one development ends and the next begins.

This isn’t an opinion piece. We’re not here to tell you what to think about any of it. What we are here to do is lay out, as clearly and as chronologically as possible, 8 of the most significant developments in the 2026 impeachment proceedings against the Vice President. That way, you can follow the story on your own terms.

Here’s what happened, in the order that it happened.

8. February 2, 2026: Fresh impeachment complaints filed

The Supreme Court had barely finished announcing its final ruling dismissing the 2025 impeachment case when fresh complaints were already being prepared. The one-year constitutional bar had lapsed, and complainants wasted no time.

Two new impeachment complaints were filed on February 2, led by the Makabayan coalition and allied groups. The complaints alleged betrayal of public trust, citing, among other things, the preparation of implausible accomplishment reports supported by allegedly fabricated liquidation documents tied to confidential funds. Round two had officially begun.

7. February 18, 2026: Sara Duterte announces 2028 presidential bid

Amid revived impeachment proceedings, VP Sara formally declared her intention to run for president in 2028. The announcement drew significant attention less for its content – her political ambitions were hardly a secret – and more for its timing.

With fresh complaints just filed and hearings on the horizon, the declaration reframed the proceedings for many observers as not just a legal matter but a political one, with implications extending well beyond the current administration.

6. March 4, 2026: House Panel rules complaints sufficient in substance; proceedings formally advance

After weeks of processing, the House Committee on Justice ruled that two of the impeachment complaints against the Vice President were sufficient in substance, clearing the way for full proceedings to move forward.

The Vice President was formally notified on March 5 and given ten days to submit her response. Notably, the Tindig, Akbayan, and Makabayan bloc had already withdrawn one of the earlier complaints in early March, consolidating their efforts behind a single complaint in a bid to streamline and expedite the process.

The Vice President filed her official response on March 16, with her camp given an extra day after the original deadline fell on a Sunday.

5. April 14, 2026: Star witness Ramil Madriaga testifies

The first public hearing produced one of the most talked-about testimonies of the entire proceedings. Ramil Madriaga, who identified himself as a former close associate of the Vice President, took the stand and made a series of sweeping allegations.

Among them: that he personally delivered approximately P125 million in confidential funds to various individuals in December 2022, allegedly within a single 24-hour period.

Madriaga also alleged the existence of a power-sharing arrangement between the Vice President and President Marcos, and claimed that when Marcos allegedly failed to honor that arrangement, former President Rodrigo Duterte had purportedly discussed plans to either assassinate the president or remove him via a coup.

The Vice President’s camp was absent from the hearing and subsequently disputed Madriaga’s claims, calling them unsubstantiated.

4. April 20, 2026: State auditors flag hundreds of millions in confidential funds

The Commission on Audit entered the picture with findings that added a separate layer to the proceedings. COA reported that P375 million in confidential funds disbursed by the Office of the Vice President in 2023 were unsupported by documents or proven accomplishments. A separate notice of disallowance was also issued against at least P300 million in additional confidential funds.

These were not allegations from political opponents or witnesses with disputed credibility. These were findings from state auditors, entered into the record during an active impeachment proceeding.

3. April 22, 2026: Trillanes testifies; billions in transactions scrutinized

The third hearing became the most-watched of the proceedings so far. Former senator Antonio Trillanes IV appeared before the House justice committee and submitted a sworn affidavit alleging that five members of the Duterte family, including the Vice President and former President Rodrigo Duterte, received a combined P181.6 million in checks from alleged Davao drug lord Samuel “Sammy” Uy between 2011 and 2013.

Sara Duterte’s share was alleged at P22.32 million across three transactions. On the same day, the Anti-Money Laundering Council reported that over 600 transactions worth P6.77 billion had flowed through bank accounts held by the Vice President and her husband, Mans Carpio, between 2006 and 2025: figures that lawmakers noted appeared to far exceed her declared SALN net worth of P80.5 million.

The AMLC separately confirmed that 19 of the transaction entries Trillanes presented were completely similar to entries in its own records.

2. April 23, 2026: Vice President’s camp responds, questions Trillanes’ credibility

A day after Trillanes’ testimony, the Vice President’s camp issued a response. Rather than addressing the specific figures and transactions raised during the hearing, the statement focused on questioning Trillanes’s credibility as a witness.

The Vice President herself, in a separate statement, reiterated her position that information regarding her bank accounts had been obtained illegally and that she had no obligation to answer questions based on such records. The defense camp did not present alternative figures or documentation at this stage.

1. April 29, 2026: Final hearing; committee to vote on probable cause

The House Committee on Justice is scheduled to hold its final public hearing on April 29, with the National Bureau of Investigation set to present its findings on the alleged death threats the Vice President purportedly made against President Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

Following the hearing, the committee is expected to vote on whether probable cause exists for each of the allegations in the impeachment complaints: a vote that will determine whether the case moves to the House plenary, and eventually, potentially, to a Senate trial.

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