Philippine lawmakers yesterday voted to impeach Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, who has fallen out spectacularly with the country’s leader, paving the way for a Senate trial that could see her removed from office.
While specifics of the impeachment were not divulged, the vote follows the filing of a trio of complaints in December accusing Duterte of crimes ranging from the “brazen misuse” of millions of dollars in public funds to plotting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s assassination.
“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,” Philippine House of Representatives Speaker Martin Romualdez told lawmakers.
Photo: AFP
The fate of Duterte, daughter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, now lies in the hands of the Philippines’ 24 senators, two-thirds of whom must vote for her impeachment to remove her from office and disqualify her from future public positions.
A trial date has yet to be set.
Yesterday’s filing comes days before campaigning officially begins for midterm elections, widely expected to set the table for the 2028 presidential race.
Whether 16 senators cast their vote for Sara Duterte’s impeachment could come down to Marcos, University of Santo Tomas Department of Political Science chairman Dennis Coronacion said.
“If [Marcos] is committed to this one, to the impeachment process... I think getting the required number of Senate votes is possible,” he said, adding that yesterday’s vote had come as something of a surprise.
However, should the administration stay hands-off, the chances of Sara Duterte being impeached are closer to 50-50, Coronacion said, pointing to the sitting senators’ need for votes from Duterte stronghold Mindanao in the coming election.
The relationship between Duterte and 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.
However, Marcos had previously urged the Philippine Congress not to pursue Sara Duterte’s impeachment, calling it a “storm in a teacup” that would distract the legislature from its primary responsibilities.
However, Marcos’ executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, on Monday said that the Office of the President would “not interfere” with the impeachment complaints.
A public relations official said the Senate was expecting the articles of impeachment to arrive at its security office at about 7pm.
Philippine Representative Percival Cendana, 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 Sara 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.
A US YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said yesterday. Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch. South Korean authorities indicted Somali — whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael — in 2024 on public order violations and obstruction of business, and banned him from leaving the country. “The court has sentenced him to six months in
Former Lima mayor Rafael Lopez Aliaga, a Peruvian presidential hopeful, gathered hundreds of supporters in Lima on Tuesday and gave authorities 24 hours to annul the first round of the country’s election over allegations of fraud. Lopez Aliaga is locked in a tight three-way race with two other candidates for second place in Sunday’s vote. The election runner-up wins a ticket to June’s presidential run-off against front-runner Keiko Fujimori. “I am giving them 24 hours to declare this electoral fraud null and void,” said Lopez Aliaga, surrounded by a crowd of several hundred supporters. “If it is not declared null and void tomorrow,
PAPAL RETORT: Pope Leo told reporters that he has ‘no fear, neither of the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the Gospel’ US President Donald Trump has feuded with Pope Leo XIV over the Iran conflict — setting off an unholy row that could have serious political implications for the Republican leader back in the US. Trump has drawn barbs even from some allies over the attacks on the US-born pontiff, who has criticized the Trump administration over its immigration crackdown, the intervention in Venezuela and the Iran war. The president risks alienating the religious right in November’s crucial US midterm elections. So far the unprecedented clash between the leader of the most powerful military on Earth and the head of the world’s 1.4 billion
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in Florida in the death of his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship, the US Department of Justice said on Monday. Timothy Hudson was initially charged in February and subsequently indicted on March 10, but the breadth of the case was not known until a seal was lifted on Friday last week, weeks after US District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said that he would be prosecuted as an adult at the request of the government. Anna Kepner had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November last
RSS