FALSE: ‘₱975M for a show’ VP Duterte impeachment trial cost nearly ₱1 billion

“₱975 million for a show without a finale,” Atty. Regal Olivia claimed in a video, criticizing the cost of the impeachment proceedings and describing the prosecutors’ withdrawal of three articles as a grandstanding.

CLAIM 

Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial allegedly cost the Senate ₱25 million a day– totaling nearly ₱1 billion in 39 days–only for the prosecution to withdraw three articles without hearing the defense.

RATING: FALSE

CONCLUSION

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian debunked the amount as ‘completely untrue’, saying that the Senate spent only an average of ₱330, 763 per day on the trial; 44 days amounted to only P14,553,561 million, nowhere near the claimed amount in the video.

FACTS: 

• The statement in the video mirrors an earlier claim made by VP Duterte’s spokesperson, Atty. Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., who said that the Senate spends approximately ₱25 million a day on trial proceedings. 
• Senator Panfilo Lacson called out Panelo’s figures, clarifying that the ₱25 million refers to the Senate’s regular operating expenses and not the additional or actual costs of holding an impeachment trial. 
• Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian also debunked the amount as ‘completely untrue’, saying that the Senate spent only an average of ₱330, 763 per day on the trial.
• Gatchalian detailed that the total trial-related expenditure of the Senate across 44 days amounted to P14,553,561 million, nowhere near the claimed amount in the video.

BOTTOMLINE

The figures cited in the video have no factual basis and grossly misrepresent the actual operational costs of the impeachment trial, potentially misleading the public into believing that government funds are being misused.