ASEANEWS HEADLINE | MANILA: Impeached VP Sara won’t resign

‘Romantic breakup more hurtful than impeachment’

MANILA, Philippines — Resigning ahead of her impeachment trial is out of the question for Vice President Sara Duterte, who revealed that her legal team had begun preparations for a court battle way back in November 2023.

“We are not there yet. Such kinds of things are so far ahead,” Duterte said at a press conference yesterday when asked if resigning is an option ahead of an impeachment trial.

Her main comment on her impeachment was, “God save the Philippines.”

She declined to answer several questions including whether she thought President Marcos had a hand in her impeachment.

“Our lawyers are working. I’m not privy to what they are doing, but I will have a meeting with them,” Duterte said.

“We’ve already started preparing the moment France Castro announced the impeachment plans, which was in November of 2023. So, November 2023, there were already our lawyers doing their work for the impeachment,” Duterte said, referring to ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro, one of the main proponents of the impeachment complaint against her and the one who raised before the House of Representatives the issue on the Office of the Vice President’s alleged misuse of P125 million in confidential funds in 2022.

Under Article XI, Section 3, Paragraph 7 of the Constitution, conviction through impeachment shall result in the impeachable officer’s removal from his or her current post and perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

The same provision also states that notwithstanding the conviction through impeachment, the same officer shall also be subject to criminal prosecution, trial and possible punishment under the law.

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“Yes, I know the penalties of impeachment. But before I resigned from the Department of Education, I’ve already thought about everything,” Duterte said.

Duterte had earlier stated that she was “seriously considering” running for president in the 2028 elections. Asked if it’s still part of her political plans, the Vice President answered in the affirmative, but admitted she needs to see survey results first as 2028 nears.

“We are still far from that (2028 elections), but as I have already stated, we are seriously considering that (presidential bid). But it is difficult to decide without numbers. So, we need to see the surveys, the numbers, probably by next year,” she said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Asked if she was confident about getting acquitted since several senators were allied with her family, Duterte said: “I haven’t thought about that. I have not counted the number of votes in the Senate, so we are not there yet.”

“The legal team is still in the preparation of the defense and what we will do moving forward,” she added.

Worse than impeachment

Duterte shrugged off the overwhelming number of lawmakers in the House of Representatives who signed in favor of her impeachment, saying “it is more hurtful to get dumped by your boyfriend or girlfriend than getting impeached by the House of Representatives.”

Among the 215 of the 306 lawmakers who signed the consolidated impeachment complaint against her were those from Mindanao, considered her family’s bailiwick.

Duterte also said she was not keen on personally appearing at her impeachment trial as people might get “intimidated” by her presence.

“I understand that you may not [attend personally], so I will not. Because all of them there might get intimidated by my presence,” Duterte said.

A vote of two-thirds or 16 out of the 24 senators sitting as impeachment court judges is needed for Duterte’s conviction.

Duterte declined to name the members of her defense team, saying she would rather have them make the announcement.

She said she is open to the offer of her father – former president Rodrigo Duterte – to join her legal team, but advised him against leading it, citing his advanced age.

“Maybe, if he wants to, he can be part of the defense team. But because of his age and because of the rigorous preparations in an impeachment case, I might ask him not to be the lead defense (lawyer) because of his age. He is already 80 years old this year,” she explained.

Prior to answering questions from the media, Duterte delivered a prepared statement on her impeachment and said the focus of her message is imploring God to “save the Philippines.”

“In the past few days, many were asking for my reaction, comment or feelings toward the issue of impeachment complaint filed against me. Despite my earlier statement regarding the plan to impeach me, the only thing that I can say at this point is, God save the Philippines,” Duterte said.

“Apart from that, I would like to extend my heartfelt gratitude to the people who continue to pray, support, trust and love me. Have faith because victory will be upon the people,” she added.

She said that amid the ruckus over her impeachment, the country has to deal with embarrassment before the international community due to rising prices of basic goods and lack of job opportunities that has forced thousands of Filipinos to work abroad.