House impeaches VP Sara Duterte

House impeaches VP Sara Duterte Featured

Red Mendoza and Bernadette E. Tamayo
News
06 February 2025
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LAWMAKERS on Wednesday voted to send articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte to the Senate for trial, a day before the current congressional session was set to end.

ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT House Secretary General Reginald Velasco hands to Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. the articles of impeachment filed against Vice President Sara Duterte at the Office of the Senate Secretary in Pasay City on Feb. 5, 2025. SPPA POOL
"Having been filed by more than one-third of the membership of the House of Representatives, or a total of 215 members... the motion is approved," Speaker Martin Romualdez told lawmakers.

Duterte's fate now lies in the hands of 24 senators, two-thirds of whom must vote for her impeachment to convict her.

The Senate, on its last session day, received the article of impeachment against Duterte.

The members of the Senate act as senator-judges if it reconvenes as an impeachment court. The last time the Senate reconvened as an impeachment court was in 2012 when it tackled the House move to unseat then-chief justice Renato Corona.

Wednesday's filing comes days before campaigning officially begins for midterm elections, widely expected to set the table for the 2028 presidential race.

Duterte is the first vice president to be impeached by the House of Representatives.

Although three impeachment complaints had been filed by other parties, the fourth complaint was initiated by House members themselves and was signed first by the president's son, Senior Deputy Majority Leader Sandro Marcos.

The fourth complaint accuses Duterte of conspiracy, malversation of confidential funds, betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, high crimes and acts of destabilization.

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco hands to Senate Secretary Renato N. Bantug Jr. the articles of impeachment filed against the Vice President Sara Duterte at the Office of the Senate Secretary in Pasay City, Feb. 5, 2025. SPPA POOL

"This is about upholding the Constitution and ensuring that no public official, regardless of their position, is above the law," Romualdez said.

The complaint alleges that Duterte claimed that she hired an assassin to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., first lady Liza Araneta Marcos and Romualdez.

It also noted that Duterte spoke about imagining the decapitation of the president, which, lawmakers argued, poses a direct threat to national stability and makes impeachment necessary.

The complaint accuses the vice president of misusing and illegally disbursing P612.5 million in confidential funds under the Office of the Vice President, as well as bribery and financial manipulation within the Department of Education.

It alleges that Duterte quadrupled her net worth from 2007 to 2017 and pointed to "suspicious transactions" linked to joint bank accounts shared with her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte.

The complaint also used the testimony of former policeman Arturo Lascanas, who alleged that Duterte was involved with the Davao Death Squad during her time as Davao City mayor, where he said that Duterte "personally ordered assassinations under Operation Tokhang" and "bodies of victims were secretly buried in mass graves at Laud Quarry."

She is also accused of engaging in acts aimed at destabilizing the government, including boycotting the State of the Nation Address (SONA) while declaring herself "designated survivor," leading rallies calling for Marcos' resignation, publicly defending former televangelist Apollo Quiboloy and obstructing congressional investigations by ordering subordinates not to comply with subpoenas.

Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, one of the House lawmakers assigned as public prosecutor, said the impeachment trial will allow the vice president to present her case to the public.

"This is a good venue for due process in the Philippines to work... It is also a good time for the prosecution and defense to lay out their evidence," Defensor said in English and Filipino.

Following the vote, the House elected 11 of its lawmakers to serve as impeachment prosecutors: Batangas 2nd District Rep. Gerville Luistro, Antipolo 2nd District Rep. Romeo Acop, 1-Rider Rep. Rodge Gutierrez, Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, Ako Bicol Rep. Jil Bongalon; General Santos Rep. Loreto Acharon, House Minority Leader and 4Ps Rep. Marcelino Libanan, Oriental Mindoro 1st District Rep. Arnan Panaligan, San Juan Rep. Ysabel Zamora, Iloilo 3rd District Rep. Lorenz Defensor, and Bukidnon 2nd District Jonathan Keith Flores.

Rep. Paolo Duterte, the vice president's older brother, slammed what he called "railroaded efforts" to impeach her.

He also alleged that Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin "hastily" collected signatures and pushed for the immediate approval and transmittal of what he claimed was a "baseless" impeachment case, calling it a "clear act of political persecution."

"This administration is treading on dangerous ground. If they were unfazed by the over 1 million rallying supporters of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, then they are blindly marching toward an even greater storm — one that could shake the very foundation of their rule, " the congressman from Davao said.

The relationship between Duterte and President Marcos is at a nadir, their former alliance giving way to a months-long public battle that has seen the trading of wild accusations, including an alleged death threat that remains under investigation.

But Marcos had previously urged Congress not to pursue Duterte's impeachment, calling it a "storm in a teacup" that would distract the legislature from its primary responsibilities.

Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, however, said Monday that the Office of the President would "not interfere" with the impeachment complaints.

House member Percival Cendaña, who had backed one of the three impeachment complaints, urged his colleagues to take quick action at a rally on Friday that drew thousands calling for Duterte's impeachment.

Every day of inaction "condones the impunity, the abuse of power and the harassment that Duterte is doing to our country's leaders," he told reporters.

Duterte was widely tipped to succeed her father Rodrigo as president in the 2022 elections but stepped aside to back Marcos and later ran for vice president on his ticket.

But the alliance has since imploded. In November, she delivered an expletive-laden speech saying she had ordered someone to kill Marcos if she herself was assassinated.

She later denied that her comments constituted a death threat, saying she had only been expressing "consternation" with the administration's failures.

The alleged assassination threat was among the allegations included in the last of the three complaints filed against Duterte, lodged on Dec. 19 by seven Manila-based Catholic priests.

"Impeachment is the necessary, ultimate line of defense against corruption at the highest rungs of officialdom," it said. "She cannot be vice president a minute longer."

Previous impeachment trial

Then-senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. was among the senator-judges during the impeachment of Corona. The Senate president at that time, Juan Ponce Enrile, was the presiding officer and is now Marcos' chief presidential legal counsel.

Aside from Senate President Francis Escudero and Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, incumbent senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Jinggoy Estrada, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda and Bong Revilla participated in Corona's impeachment.

Sen. Joel Villanueva said as a member of the Senate, he would be ready to perform his duties and responsibilities as senator-judge should the Senate reconvene as an impeachment court.

Asked whether Escudero had already discussed any possible preparation for the trial with them, Villanueva said, "No. Zero."

Before the Senate received the articles of impeachment, Escudero said the Senate was not gearing up for an impeachment trial, saying it would do so only when the formal complaint has been submitted.

Villanueva declined to provide specifics on what the senators would do, saying any discussion on the impeachment trial needs "plenary action."

But he said the rules adopted during the impeachment of then chief justice Corona in 2012 could serve as a "guide" in crafting the new rules on the impeachment trial.

Villanueva said he was unsure whether the Senate would proceed with the impeachment trial even if it was in recess.000
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