By Cliff Potts, Editor-in-Chief, WPS News
BAYBAY CITY, LEYTE, Philippines, September 7, 2026

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Reporting

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte resumed Monday with the Senate impeachment court still focused on Article I, the confidential-funds case, while the separate grave threats case against Duterte continued to hang over the proceedings.

The newest trial issue is the use of aliases in confidential-fund transactions. The Philippine News Agency reported Monday that aliases in confidential-fund documents triggered a new dispute over the burden of proof in the impeachment trial. That matters because the prosecution has been trying to show that questionable names and unsupported liquidation documents weaken Duterte’s explanation of how confidential funds were used. The defense, in turn, is pushing back on how much prosecutors must prove and whether the use of aliases is enough to establish misuse or misappropriation (Philippine News Agency, 2026a).

Philstar’s live coverage of Day 22 reported that the Senate resumed Duterte’s impeachment trial at 10 a.m. Monday, September 7. The same coverage noted that Sen. Imee Marcos questioned Michael Poa on how, as chief of staff to then-Education Secretary Duterte, he could claim no involvement in confidential funds until the Commission on Audit became involved (Philstar.com, 2026a).

That keeps the DepEd side of the case alive. Poa has already testified that he had no personal knowledge of how the DepEd confidential funds were actually used, while prosecutors have continued trying to connect officials, paperwork, and fund releases into a coherent chain of responsibility.

Grave Threats Case Continues Separately

The other major development remains Duterte’s separate criminal grave threats case. Reuters reported that Duterte posted bail Saturday after a trial court ordered her arrest on three counts of grave threats tied to her 2024 remarks involving President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Bail was set at ₱120,000 per count, or ₱360,000 total (Reuters, 2026a).

That criminal case is separate from the impeachment trial, but it overlaps with the impeachment article involving Duterte’s alleged threats. The important new point is that Senate officials and legal commentators are emphasizing that the two proceedings can continue separately.

Pilipino Star Ngayon reported that the impeachment court clarified that double jeopardy does not apply because impeachment proceedings are separate and different from criminal cases. In plain English, Duterte can face a Senate impeachment trial and a criminal grave threats case without one automatically blocking the other (Pilipino Star Ngayon, 2026).

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian also said the grave threats case has no effect on the impeachment trial. Radyo Pilipinas reported that Gatchalian described the criminal case and impeachment case as separate proceedings, while also urging authorities to take Duterte’s claims about threats to her safety seriously (Radyo Pilipinas, 2026).

Political Analysis

The clean read is this: the impeachment trial did not stop because of the grave threats case, and the grave threats case did not disappear because of the impeachment trial.

That is the real update. Duterte is now fighting on two tracks. In the Senate, the case remains centered on confidential funds, aliases, liquidation documents, and whether prosecutors can prove that public money was mishandled. In the criminal court, the grave threats case is moving separately after the arrest order and bail.

The alias fight is important because it goes to the heart of the confidential-funds defense. Confidential operations may require secrecy, but secrecy cannot mean the government never has to prove who received public money or why. If the prosecution can show that aliases, receipts, and missing documents point to fake or unsupported transactions, Article I gets stronger. If the defense can show that aliases were normal, lawful, and tied to real confidential work, then the prosecution’s case weakens.

For WPS News, the useful headline is simple: the case is no longer just one impeachment story. It is now an impeachment trial, a criminal grave threats case, and a broader fight over whether confidential-fund secrecy can survive audit scrutiny.

APA-Style Source List:

Philippine News Agency. (2026a, September 7). Alias issue sparks burden of proof clash in VP Sara trial.

Philstar.com. (2026a, September 7). LIVE Coverage: Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Sept. 7.

Pilipino Star Ngayon. (2026, September 7). Prinsipyo ng “double jeopardy” ’di angkop sa kaso ni VP Sara.

Radyo Pilipinas. (2026, September 7). Grave threats case ni VP Sara Duterte, walang epekto sa impeachment trial — Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.

Reuters. (2026a, September 5). Philippine VP Duterte posts bail after arrest order for alleged grave threats.

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