A circulating graphic claims that House lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro said investigating the confidential funds of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former House speaker Martin Romualdez is prohibited. Luistro made no such statement.
On July 15, a Facebook page shared a graphic featuring photos of Marcos, Luistro and Romualdez with the headline:
“LUISTO IGINIIT NA BAWAL DAW IMBESTIGAHAN ANG CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS NI MARCOS AT ROMUALDEZ (LUISTO INSISTS THAT IT IS PROHIBITED TO INVESTIGATE THE CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS OF MARCOS AND ROMUALDEZ).”
Several FB users have since reposted the false graphic. A FB user posted a copy on July 16 with the caption:
“Batangas Rep. Luistro igiit na bawal daw imbestigahan ang confidential funds ni marcos at romualdez kay wlang (sic) iregularidad at hind (sic) rin daw questionable…¿ (sic) (Batangas Rep. Luistro insists that it is prohibited to investigate the confidential funds of Marcos and Romualdez because there are no irregularities and it is allegedly not questionable).“
The headline in the graphic is false. Luistro did not say that investigating Marcos’ and Romualdez’s confidential funds is not allowed.
In an interview with journalist Jessica Soho released on July 14, Luistro was asked about the claim that the House is being “selective” for going only after the confidential funds of Vice President Sara Duterte and not the other government officials who also have confidential funds.
Luistro answered that they cannot investigate those who are not facing complaints. She did not say that Marcos and Romualdez are immune from investigation.
The lawmaker further clarified that all public funds are subject to auditing, including confidential funds, and that Duterte, as vice president, is among the public officials who can be subjected to the impeachment process.
“First of all, impeachable official siya. We cannot investigate those na wala namang complaints (who are not facing complaints). Let us understand that this is an impeachment process. Exclusive ang mga public officials who must go through this impeachment process (Public officials who must go through this impeachment process is exclusive). Sabi ng Constitution (The Constitution says), president, vice president, justices of the Supreme court, members of the Constitutional Commission and Ombudsman. Sila lang ang impeachable officials (They are the only impeachable officials). So if the question is against an impeachable official, this is the proper remedy, this is the proper forum. Pagdating dun sa non-impeachable (when it comes to the non-impeachable [officials]), then the proper office to take care of that is the Ombudsman,” Luistro clarified.
The House lead prosecutor explained that the impeachment complaints against Marcos Jr. had been dismissed because of “failure to prove his personal participation” on the alleged crimes committed. On Feb. 4, the House Committee on Justice junked the two impeachment complaints against Marcos for not meeting the sufficiency in substance requirement under the Constitution.
She expounded that the vice president’s case is different because her personal participation is “substantiated” in the complaints filed against her.
While the caption in the original post by the FB page Filipino Community carried the proper context, the headline in the attached graphic is false.
The false headline circulated at the same time the Senate conducted the sixth day of the vice president’s impeachment trial.
VERA Files has debunked several disinformation related to Luistro and the impeachment.
At least 14 copies of the graphic posted by FB users and pages such as Filipino Community (created on July 12, 2020) and Pambansang Expose (created on June 1, 2026) collectively garnered 191,995 reactions, 33,500 comments and 6,327 shares.
