Philippine House Votes To Impeach Vice President Sara Duterte Over Wealth And Threats

The House of Representatives of the Philippines voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday over alleged unexplained wealth and threats, with the House dominated by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s allies.

The House vote was 257-25 with nine abstentions, and the two impeachment complaints will now be elevated to the Senate for a trial.

Al Jazeera

Senate President Vicente Sotto III, who had vowed to immediately put the vice president to trial, was ousted by 13 of 24 senators, including supporters of the vice president and her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The rift between the camps of the country’s top two officials escalated as a tense standoff followed when Sen. Roland dela Rosa, a supporter of former President Duterte who is facing trial before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, suddenly appeared in the Senate after months of absence.

Duterte has generally denied any wrongdoing, and her lawyers said Monday, “While questions of constitutional significance remain pending before the Supreme Court, we are fully prepared to defend the vice president before the Senate.”

The impeachment case centers on alleged unexplained wealth and threats, including lawmakers’ focus on a late-night briefing in which Sara Duterte said she had hired an assassin to kill Ferdinand Marcos if he assassinated her first.

After the Monday vote, Duterte’s defense counsel said the burden of proof now rests with her accusers and that they were “fully prepared to defend the Vice President before the Senate sitting as an Impeachment Court,”.

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Representative Bienvenido Abante said immediately after the vote, “This is no longer just about politics. This is about conscience, duty and the future of our nation,” while Rep. Leila de Lima told fellow lawmakers, “Impeachment is not political persecution.”

The House justice committee chair, Gerville Luistro, said the allegations included criminal allegations such as 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.

The Straits Times reported that conviction would require the votes of two-thirds of senators, or 16 votes, and that the Senate trial could define Duterte’s 2028 presidential ambitions even as she denied wrongdoing and said the proceedings were politically motivated.

The case now moves to the Senate, which will hold an impeachment trial to decide whether Duterte should be removed from office, with at least two-thirds of the 24 senators required for conviction.

“Philippine vice president impeached by lawmakers over suspected wealth and threats Philippine vice president impeached by lawmakers over suspected wealth and threats MANILA, Philippines (AP) — An overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives of the Philippines voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday over alleged unexplained wealth and threats to have the president assassinated, as the rift between the camps of the country’s top two officials escalated”

AP News

The Guardian said the allegations include claims she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth, and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, and it noted that if found guilty Duterte will be banned from public office, derailing her plan to run for president in 2028.

The Straits Times reported that hours before the impeachment vote, Duterte’s allies ousted Senate president Vicente Sotto III and replaced him with Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, and it quoted Cayetano saying, “We have to be guided by the truth, guided by evidence.”

RFI reported that the articles of impeachment accuse Duterte of graft, corruption, bribery and an alleged assassination plot against former ally President Ferdinand Marcos, and it said a guilty verdict in the Senate would see Duterte removed and barred from elected office for life.

Outside the House, AFP said student Matthew Silverio protested against corruption, telling reporters, “She took millions and millions of pesos from the Filipino people, from the young people, from us students,” as the impeachment battle advanced toward the Senate.