Social Media Claim That Sara Duterte Counsel Is Jose Sison's Daughter Rated False

Rappler reported that lawyer Sheila Sison, lead defense counsel for Vice President Sara Duterte, is not the daughter of veteran lawyer Jose Sison. A Facebook post making the claim had received 313,300 reactions, 17,800 comments and 13,000 shares as of the article's writing.

com column that he had only one daughter, Joyce, whose death anniversary the family would mark the next day nine years after her death in 2003.

In a February 2024 column he named his six children as Joyce, Jopet, Joel, Jay, Jolly and Jaybee. No publicly available record shows Sheila Sison among them. Sheila Sison is a partner at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm.

She earned a communication arts degree from UP Los Baños and a law degree from San Sebastian College Recoletos, where she graduated class valedictorian, and was admitted to the Bar in 2014. A biography on the firm's website does not list her parents.

The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte opened on July 6 with four articles covering alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery of Department of Education officials and grave threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

And his family. In her opening speech, defense lead counsel Sheila Sison stated that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. through his Cabinet approved the request and release of the allegedly questionable confidential funds.