Kamal Ghorui
Philippine House votes to impeach VP Sara Duterte for a second time (Image credit: AP)
An overwhelming majority of the Philippine House of Representatives voted on Monday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte over allegations of graft, corruption, bribery, misuse of state funds, and an alleged assassination threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, throwing her announced 2028 presidential run into doubt.The House, dominated by Marcos allies, voted 255-26 with nine abstentions to send the impeachment complaints to the Senate, which will convene as a tribunal for her trial. A guilty verdict would see Duterte removed from office and barred from elected office for life.The vice president, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, has generally denied any wrongdoing without addressing the criminal allegations in detail.
Duterte ally elected Senate president minutes before vote
In a significant development minutes before the House vote, the Senate elected Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, a long-time ally of Vice President Duterte, as its new president. Cayetano, who served as foreign secretary under former president Rodrigo Duterte, replaced Vicente Sotto III after a 13-9 vote with two abstentions.The change in Senate leadership could play a crucial role in the outcome of the impeachment trial. Cayetano denied any connection between his election and the House vote.“I do not blame you if you’re saying that the change in leadership was due to the impeachment. It was not,” he said immediately after the Senate vote.
What happens next
One of the most serious allegations in the complaint includes private bank transactions flagged by the anti-money laundering agency of more than $110 million.“The scale of these transactions cannot be reasonably explained by lawful income, declared assets, or the businesses and professional activities attributed to the couple,” House member Terry Ridon, one of the main complainants, said in a statement.The articles of impeachment also accuse Duterte of an alleged assassination threat against Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.Under the Philippine constitution, an impeachment triggers a trial in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority vote is required to convict and remove her from office. A guilty verdict would also disqualify her from holding any government office.A previous impeachment motion against Duterte was passed by the House in 2025 with 215 votes, but was later voided by the Supreme Court over constitutional technicalities.Duterte and Marcos ran as a ticket in the 2022 elections, but their political alliance later unraveled, leading to a bitter split. Duterte has already declared her intention to run for president in 2028.On May 7, Duterte said whatever the outcome of the impeachment “is written by God.”“Based on our discussion earlier with former President Duterte, everything that happens in a person’s life is written by God. So, if I am impeached, that is written by God. If I am not impeached, see you tomorrow,” she told supporters after visiting her father in The Hague, where he is facing an ICC trial over his deadly “war on drugs.”
