A wave of disinformation flooded social media with posts alleging that Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial costs range from P25 million to P70 million per day. Both claims are false.
No official documents or statements from the Senate impeachment court corroborate such figures cited in various erroneous online posts.
Claim 1: Senate spent P25M on Duterte’s trial per day
On July 7, the FB page of a pro-Duterte personality posted this claim:
“The Philippine Senate spends roughly P25 million per day, 92 days of impeachment. 2.3B for hearing a 125M properly liquidated CF. 2.3B wasted.”
Several users and pages across social media—including former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque—have since reposted either the exact statement or similarly worded claims, making it appear as though the cost of the vice president’s estimated 92 trial days would balloon to roughly P2.3 billion. This is false.
Claim 2: P70M a day for Duterte’s P125M ‘charges’
On July 8, the third day of Duterte’s trial, lawyer Yvette Contacto, “national legal affairs chairperson” of Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP)-Laban, said during the party’s media forum at its national headquarters:
“Sabi nila, every day na nagkakaroon ng impeachment, magkano ang binabayad [at] ginagastos sa gobyerno? P70 million, tama? Magkano ang china-charge kay VP Inday? P125 million? Ito dalawang hearings na P140 [million] na, sobra na doon.
(They say that for every day the impeachment trial is held, how much does the government pay or spend? P70 million, right? How much is Vice President Inday charged? P125 million? These two hearings already cost P140 million, which is more than that amount.)”
Other FB users and pages have since republished cropped clips from the forum containing Contacto’s remark. Some netizens have also posted the claim either as texts or graphics.
Gatchalian: Senate incurred no add’l cost for Duterte’s trial
In a July 16 interview on DZRH, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the Senate did not incur any additional expenses in conducting the impeachment trial.
“Walang dagdag gastos dahil itong impeachment ay tinatrato naming parang plenary session. So hindi kami nagdagdag ng tao, hindi nagdagdag ng pagkain, hindi nagdagdag ng other expenses,” Gatchalian said.
He noted that the prosecution and defense camps are paying for their own expenses, including food, printing of materials and internet.
Regarding the P25 million spent by the Senate a day—which was misused by some netizens to support their made-up narratives on the P2.3 billion impeachment trial total cost—Gatchalian, who previously chaired the finance panel, mentioned that figure during a June 2 press briefing amid a days-long legislative standoff.
“Every day, ang Senate gumagastos ng P25 million sa kuryente, sa utilities, sa sweldo,” the Senate president said, stressing how the people’s money was wasted on the leadership stalemate between the Gatchalian-led and Cayetano-led blocs that time.
Another authentic amount on record contradicting the untrue claims can be attributed to Senator-judge Ping Lacson, who said that there is still around P22.6 million out of the original P27.5 million 2025 budget available for the impeachment trial.
In a July 23 post on X, Lacson said this can be used to “feed and quench the thirsts of both the prosecution and defense teams, their support staff and witnesses and for other impeachment activities.”
Other red flags in both narratives
While it is true that the P125 million in confidential funds granted to the Office of the Vice President in 2022 was disbursed and liquidated in 11 days, as confirmed by the Commission on Audit during the April 14 impeachment hearing at the House of Representatives, this needs context.
During the hearing, COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office chief Gloria Camora said the commission affirmed the notice of disallowance covering P73.28 million in confidential expenses of the OVP for the period Dec. 21 to 31, 2022.
The state auditors issue a notice of disallowance for government transactions that are “irregular/unnecessary/excessive and extravagant…and those which are illegal and unconscionable.”
The disallowed amount includes P69.78 million for rewards, which COA flagged because the OVP did not provide evidence proving the “success” of information gathering and/or surveillance activities. On the other hand, the commission also said that the OVP did not specify if the P3.5 million spent for equipment such as tables, chairs, computers and printers was intended for its confidential activities.
Meanwhile, Contacto also misled netizens in saying that Duterte is only facing the issue of P125 million confidential expenditures in her trial. Based on the first article of impeachment, the vice president was accused of “systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to P500 million released to the [OVP] and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education” during her tenure as its secretary.
The other allegations against her include unexplained wealth, untruthful disclosure of assets from 2022 to 2024 and failure to divest from her business interests from 2022 to 2025; bribery and procurement irregularities in DepEd; and assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez.
The fictitious claims started circulating during the first week of Duterte’s impeachment trial, which covered the fourth article on grave threats.
The fraudulent posts on the P25 million per day narrative, including the first copy by FB page Noel Landero Sarifa (created on May 10, 2019), collectively garnered 120,000 reactions; 22,674 comments and 26,586 shares. The reels with untrue claims by Roque and another user have been viewed 32,000 times. A few copies were cross-posted on YouTube, Threads, and Instagram.
On the other hand, the spurious posts featuring the P70 million a day claim, with the most engaged copy by page Cy Journey (Feb. 14, 2023), jointly amassed 94,164 reactions; 8,560 comments and 22,728, with several republished clips receiving 1.78 million views.
