Senator Lacson disputes claim impeachment trial cost P500 million

MANILA – Only about PHP2 million of the Senate's P27.5-million allocation for impeachment proceedings has been spent, Senator Panfilo Lacson clarified Wednesday, disputing claims that taxpayers lost P500 million over the withdrawal of charges against Vice President Sara Duterte.

Lacson said Duterte's spokesperson, Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., apparently confused the Senate's regular operating expenses with the actual cost of conducting the impeachment trial.

“Where did he get his P25M/day figure?” Lacson asked in a news release, referring to Panelo's estimate that 20 hearing days devoted to two subsequently withdrawn impeachment articles cost taxpayers P500 million.

Lacson, who also chairs the Senate Committee on Accounts, said the P25-million daily figure covers the chamber's regular legislative operations, including personnel services and maintenance and other operating expenses.

He said the amount originated from his earlier computation of the Senate's operating costs during the leadership standoff involving former Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano in June.

“The P25 million per day clearly refers to the legislative functions of the Senate, not to the impeachment trial as misinterpreted,” Lacson said.

He said the 2025 General Appropriations Act (GAA) provided P27.5 million specifically for impeachment proceedings, with most of the allocation still available under the continuing appropriations provision.

Lacson said roughly P2 million has been disbursed for senator-judges' robes and other trial-related items.

“I urge the VP's spokesman to rectify an obviously misleading figure of P500 million, as I assume it was an honest mistake on his part,” he said.

Panelo earlier questioned the public funds spent on Articles I and IV, covering allegations of confidential fund misuse and grave threats, respectively.

He claimed that the 20 hearing days devoted to those charges amounted to P500 million, based on the Senate's estimated daily operating cost of PHP25 million, and questioned the absence of public outrage over the expenditure.

The P25-million operating cost estimate had surfaced during the Senate leadership impasse in June, when Lacson criticized the 28-day standoff under Cayetano as costing taxpayers around P700 million despite limited legislative output.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian had also clarified in July that the impeachment trial generally did not require additional spending because the proceedings were conducted similarly to regular plenary sessions, while the prosecution and defense shouldered expenses for food, internet and printing materials.

The controversy followed the House prosecution's withdrawal of Articles I, III and IV on Tuesday, leaving Article II, involving allegations of unexplained wealth and undeclared business interests, as the remaining charge against Duterte.

The Senate impeachment court subsequently accepted the withdrawal, a move criticized by the defense as unfair.

Wilnard Bacelonia/PNA