Manila: An overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives of the Philippines voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte Monday over alleged unexplained wealth and threats to have the president assassinated, as the rift between the two top officials escalated.
The House, which is dominated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s allies, voted 255-26 with nine abstentions. The two impeachment complaints against Duterte, which will now be elevated to the Senate for a trial, mark an initial setback to her plan to seek the presidency in 2028.
The vice president, who is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has generally denied any wrongdoing without answering the criminal allegations against her in detail.
She has repeatedly accused Marcos, his wife and his cousin, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028 when Marcos’ six-year term ends.
Last year, she was also impeached by the House but survived by successfully petitioning the Supreme Court to declare the impeachment bid unconstitutional on a technicality.
Rep. Gerville Luistro, who heads the House Justice Committee, said the impeachment complaints included several criminal allegations, like huge bank transactions over the years that Duterte has not declared as required by law and misuse of confidential funds of her office as vice president and as education secretary, a post she once held under Marcos.
Luistro also cited threats made by the vice president during an online news conference in 2024 to have Marcos, his wife and Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself was assassinated, as their political disputes escalated. The vice president then warned that her threat wasn’t a joke.
She later said she wasn’t threatening him but was expressing concern for her own safety. Her threatening remarks set off a criminal investigation and national security concerns.
Duterte’s lawyers questioned an initial finding by the House Justice Committee that there was ground to impeach the vice president, saying last month that the committee proceedings “departed from the constitutional design.”
Duterte’s husband, Manases Carpio, has filed criminal complaints against Luistro and other legislators and officials after government records of the couple’s bank transactions were made public in a recent House hearing. They said that it violated the country’s bank secrecy law.
Former President Duterte is detained by and facing trial before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for alleged crimes against humanity. The charges stem from the deadly anti-drugs crackdowns he oversaw while in office.
The vice president remains popular, based on independent surveys. Sara Duterte and President Marcos were running mates in a whirlwind alliance in the 2022 election, but have since had a bitter falling out.
AP
