Impeachment case filed against Philippines VP Sara Duterte
Published in News & Features
An impeachment complaint was filed against Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte by civil society groups, deepening a political crisis over her feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Duterte engaged in “culpable violations of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes,” according to a statement from Akbayan, a progressive political alliance. A spokesperson for Duterte said the matter has been relayed to her.
“The Vice President has reduced public office to a platform for violent rhetoric, personal enrichment, elitist entitlement and a shield for impunity,” Teresita Quintos Deles, one of the complainants, said in the statement. “Her actions desecrate our institutions, and her continued grip on power insults every Filipino who stands for good governance and the rule of law.”
The complaint was filed at the House of Representatives just three days after Marcos said he would oppose any impeachment effort as a potential distraction that could slow reforms, calling his dispute with his deputy a “storm in a teacup.” The filing is expected to undergo hearings by a house committee, a majority of which must vote for it to be taken up by the entire chamber. The complaint will then need backing from at least one-third of all house members for a Senate trial to proceed.
Marcos’s allies control the House of Representatives but a conviction at the Senate may prove challenging, as an impeachment proceeding could alienate Duterte’s supporters ahead of the midterm elections in May.
Just two years after they won election on a joint ticket, Duterte’s relationship with Marcos has completely fractured, and she claimed late last month that — in the event of her death — she had arranged for the killing of the president, his wife and his cousin, the house speaker. She subsequently said her livestreamed remarks had been taken out of context, but her father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, has previously publicly bragged of directing a “death squad” to kill criminals.
Indeed, Rodrigo Duterte last week asked for the military to correct what he saw was “fractured governance,” remarks that some interpreted as a call for the army to intervene, even as he said he wasn’t calling for a coup.
The police last week also filed a complaint against Sara Duterte and her security detail over allegations of assault and coercion following an incident involving the transfer of her chief of staff to a government hospital from the House of Representatives, where the staffer was detained.
Monday’s complaint, by a group that included civil society leaders and former government officials, and which was endorsed by Congressman Perci Cendaña from Akbayan, said Duterte violated her constitutional oath and engaged in gross misconduct. That included her alleged misuse of confidential funds provided to the office of the vice president, along with sundry alleged misdeeds at other times in her career, including when she was mayor of Davao City and head of the education department.
The complaint also cited Sara Duterte’s alleged “meltdown” when she apparently contracted an assassin to kill Marcos and house Speaker Martin Romualdez, according to the statement. Her claims showed “the depths and/or extent of her mental incapacity, her depravity, and lack of mental fitness to continue holding the office.”
News of the impeachment effort came late in the trading day in the Philippines, where the benchmark stock index rose 2%.
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With assistance from Andreo Calonzo.
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