Vice president impeached by House, faces Senate trial

Sara Duterte

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives yesterday after more than the required number of legislators, many of them allies of the president with whom she has had a bitter political feud, signed a petition to remove her from office.

House of Representatives Secretary General Reginald Velasco told a plenary meeting of the lower chamber of Congress that at least 215 lawmakers have signed a petition to impeach Duterte, more than enough for the powerful House to impeach her.

With enough endorsements by House legislators, the impeachment complaint was ordered transmitted to the Senate, which will serve as an impeachment tribunal that would try the vice president, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte.

The vice president, who didn’t immediately react to the House move to impeach her, and her father have been politically at odds with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his camp, including a majority of House legislators.

The vice president, regarded as a possible presidential candidate after Marcos’s term ends in 2028, has faced at least four impeachment complaints by several legislators and left-wing activist groups over a range of issues.

Those included a death threat she made against the president, his wife and House Speaker Martin Romualdez last year, irregularities in the use of her office’s intelligence funds and her failure to stand up to Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea.

Only the latest impeachment complaint, accusing the vice president of violating the constitution, betraying the public trust, corruption and other high crimes, and signed by the 215 legislators would be sent to the Senate for her trial, according to legislators.

Efforts to impeach the vice president may be hampered by a lack of time. The House impeachment came on the last day of congressional session before campaigning begins for midterm elections in May that would select new legislators for the House and Senate. A special session could be called to allow the Senate to bring Duterte to a rapid trial.

The vice president’s legal troubles have unfolded with the backdrop of her increasingly bitter political feud with the president and his allies. She said in online news conference on Nov. 23 that she has contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were killed, a threat she warned wasn’t a joke.

She later said that she wasn’t threatening him, but was expressing concern for her own safety.

The House has been investigating the alleged misuse of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3 million) of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary. She has since left the education post after her political differences with Marcos deepened.

She has refused to respond to questions in detail in tense televised hearings last year. Duterte also vehemently protested when her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was ordered temporarily detained for allegedly hampering the inquiry. Lopez has since been released from hospital detention.

Duterte has accused Marcos, his wife and Romualdez of corruption, weak leadership and attempting to muzzle her because of speculation she may seek the presidency in 2028.

The National Bureau of Investigation subpoenaed Duterte last year to face investigators about her threats against them.

The police, military and the national security adviser immediately boosted the security of the Marcos family after the threats. MDT/AP