Suarez: Most solons who signed Sara Duterte impeachment raps won

Deputy Speaker David Suarez (Lakas-CMD) officially filed his certificate of candidacy (COC) on Monday, Oct. 7, formalizing his bid for reelection as the representative of Quezon Province’s 2nd District. | PHOTO: Official Facebook page of David Jay Jay C. Suarez

MANILA, Philippines — While he respects beliefs that impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte led to the poor performance of some administration-backed senatorial candidates, Deputy Speaker David Suarez noted that most pro-impeachment lawmakers won during the recent elections.

Suarez, in an interview with reporters in Makati City on Friday, was asked about recent statements from Alyansa Para sa Bagong Pilipinas campaign manager and Navotas City Rep. Toby Tiangco regarding the effects of Duterte’s impeachment on their senatorial bets.

Tiangco told several media outfits, after partial and unofficial tallies of the 2025 midterm elections showed that only six Alyansa candidates made the Magic 12, that the impeachment was a “useless exercise” and brought backlash to administration stalwarts.

However, Suarez pointed out that over 80 percent of House of Representatives candidates who signed the complaint against Duterte eventually won.

“Well, I do respect opinion of Toby Tiangco regarding to the matter, although I do not subscribe to it, but siyempre bilang isang campaign manager siguro nakita niya ‘yong terrain, mas nauunawaan niya ‘yon,” Suarez said.

(Well, I do respect the opinion of Toby Tiangco regarding the matter, although I do not subscribe to it, but of course maybe as a campaign manager he sees the terrain better, maybe he understands it better.)

“Kung titignan po natin ‘yong winning rate ng mga congressmen na pumirma sa impeachment, I think that was at 86 percent.  So, sila po talaga ‘yong dapat makaramdam kung meron man,” he added.

(If we will look at the winning rate of the congressmen who signed the impeachment, I think that was at 86 percent.  So, they should be the ones feeling the effects if ever.)

Suarez also disputed allegations that lawmakers were promised certain things, like increments on their district allocations, just to sign the impeachment complaint.  According to the House official, everybody who signed the complaint did so based on their own volition.

“There’s no truth to that allegation, there’s no truth to that matter.  No one was forced, no one was, how do you say it, asked to sign.  And everybody signed the impeachment based on their own volition,” he added.

Despite having six bets in the prospective Magic 12, many observers and pundits believe that the Alyansa underperformed, as pre-election surveys showed that either eight or nine of the administration-backed candidates will win.

Days before the elections, a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed that ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo was the front-runner, holding the top spot with 45 percent of the respondents’ votes.  The latest partial and unofficial tally from the Commission on Elections (Comelec) as of Thursday shows that Tulfo is at the fourth spot.X zz

Senator Bong Go of the Duterte-backed Partido Demokratiko Pilipino (PDP) is at the top of the Magic 12, but this was something that the surveys predicted.  However, Tulfo has been overtaken by former Senator Bam Aquino who was not even part of surveys’ winning circle, and another PDP stalwart in Senator Ronald dela Rosa.

Former Senate President Vicente Sotto III meanwhile was poised to be ranked third, but instead, partial and unofficial tallies see him slipping down to eighth.

Senator Lito Lapid was fourth, and now he is 11th, while Makati Mayor Abby Binay and Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla — who were holding the seventh and 11th spots in the SWS survey — are currently out of the Magic 12, ranking 15th and 14th instead.

READ: Senate race: Go leads early count; Aquino, Pangilinan in 

Despite these,  Tiangco said the Alyansa still considers the results of the 2025 senatorial race as a vote of confidence for the administration as most of their candidates are poised to win Senate seats.

Furthermore, Tiangco said this is a “clear signal” to move forward with the administration’s legislative agenda, and address the people’s top issues.

“We view this as a clear signal to move forward with greater urgency and focus, guided by the aspirations of our people and committed to addressing the issues that concern them the most,” he said.

READ: Alyansa considers poll results ‘vote of confidence’ for admin 

In the House, some of the lawmakers critical of the Dutertes lost in their respective 2025 election bids — like Majority Floor Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe who lost to Duterte-endorsed Zamboanga City 1st District Rep. Kmyher Olaso for the mayoralty race, and Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. who lost lost to candidate Joey Uy.

But Comelec’s partial results also show that some individuals directly linked to the investigation of Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds (CF), along with members of the impeachment prosecution panel, emerged victorious.

Lakas-CMD member and House committee on good government and public accountability and chairperson, Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, made a successful reelection bid, defeating Aksyon Demokratiko’s Apple Nieto.  Manila 2nd District Rep. Rolando Valeriano, who filed the resolution asking for an investigation of the CF irregularities, was also victorious.

Vice President Duterte criticized both Chua and Valeriano during different local campaign sorties, while endorsing their opponents.

READ: Win some, lose some: How key House personas fared in 2025 polls 

Several other key members of the good government panel who figured during the CF probe, and who have been critical of the Vice President, won:

• prosecution team member and Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro
• La Union 1st District Rep. Paolo Ortega V
• Tingog party-list Rep. Jude Acidre (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)
• Zambales 1st District Rep. Jefferson Khonghun
• lead prosecutor and 4Ps party-list Rep. Marcelino Libanan (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)
• prosecution team member and San Juan Rep. Ysabel Zamora
• prosecution team member and 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez (pending proclamation, but likely according to quick count)