ASEANEWS HEADLINE | MANILA: Sara impeached by House
Vice President Sara Duterte has withheld comment, saying she wanted to read the complaint first. / JESSE BUSTOS
LIVE: House of Representatives impeaches VP Sara Duterte
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MANILA, Philippines — Sara Duterte became the first Vice President to be impeached, with 215 of the 306-member House of Representatives voting yesterday for her impeachment, primarily for betrayal of public trust.
But the Senate, which will convene as an impeachment court to decide whether Duterte should be ousted, adjourned session before 7 p.m. yesterday without tackling the complaint that was transmitted by the House in the afternoon.
The Senate will resume session in June. It is unclear if senators will spend the period for their election campaign sitting as an impeachment court.
President Marcos’ son, Deputy Speaker Sandro Marcos, led the list of signatories to the impeachment complaint, which was a consolidation of three complaints filed last December.
The fast-track mode of impeachment required at least 102 congressmen or one-third of the House members to sign the verified complaint.
The House session was presided over by Speaker Martin Romualdez, with whom Duterte had a falling out. Manifestations on the floor were made by Majority Leader Manuel Jose Dalipe, who asked House secretary-general Reginald Velasco how many had signed the complaint.
“This is about upholding the 1987 Constitution and ensuring that no public official, regardless of their position, is above the law,” Romualdez, a first cousin of President Marcos, stated after the historic vote.
In a prepared statement, the House leadership stated that Duterte – daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte – was impeached based on a “series of grave allegations, including conspiracy to assassinate Marcos, large-scale corruption, abuse of public funds and involvement in extrajudicial killings.”
In November 2024, Vice President Duterte threatened to have Marcos, his wife First Lady Liza Araneta and Romualdez assassinated if she was killed.
Duterte made the statement in response to comments urging her to stay safe while inside the premises of the House of Representatives, where her chief of staff Zuleika Lopez was detained for failing to answer questions during Congress’ probe on alleged misuse of OVP funds.
The 11-man prosecuting team, led by Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, voted to approve the seven Articles of Impeachment, marking the first time in Philippine history that a sitting vice president faces impeachment. The Senate will soon form itself into an impeachment court.
Luistro’s colleagues in the all-lawyer team are Reps. Romeo Acop (Antipolo), Rodge Gutierrez (1Rider), Joel Chua (Manila), Jil Bongalon (Ako Bicol), Loreto Acharon (General Santos City), House minority leader Marcelino Libanan (4Ps party-list), Arnan Panaligan (Oriental Mindoro), Ysabel Maria Zamora (San Juan City), Lorenz Defensor (Iloilo) and Jonathan Keith Flores (Bukidnon).
Among the six grounds for impeachment were the kill threat; malversation of P612.5 million in confidential funds; bribery and corruption in DepEd; unexplained wealth and failure to disclose assets; involvement in EJKs; and destabilization, insurrection and public disorder.
The impeachment complaint against Duterte revolved around these six major allegations, each of which is linked to alleged violations of the 1987 Constitution like the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), among other laws.
A two-thirds vote by the Senate is required to convict and remove Duterte from office. If convicted, she will also be permanently barred from holding any public office in the future.
In this case, lawmakers crossed party lines – the three-man militant Makabayan bloc (Gabriela, Kabataan & ACT Teachers), the official opposition House minority bloc and legislators from the supermajority coalition – and joined forces in having Duterte impeached.
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Senate adjourns after receipt of complaint
The Senate has received from the House of Representatives the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Duterte.
The transmittal of the complaint paves the way for the holding of an impeachment trial at the Senate, where senators will serve as judges and the House lawmakers as prosecutors.
House secretary general Velasco personally handed over the impeachment complaint to Senate Secretary Renato Bantug Jr. shortly before 6 p.m. yesterday.
Velasco said it is the Senate’s “constitutional duty to act on this complaint,” whether during the break from February to May or when session resumes from June 2 to 13, before the end of the 19th Congress on June 30.
The House transmitted the impeachment complaint on the last session day, before Congress goes on the campaign season break from Feb. 8 to June 1.
For his part, Bantug said complete staff work should first be made before the complaint is reported to the plenary.
“It is my duty to provide complete staff work to all members of the Senate and make sure that what the House transmitted is also what the Senate received,” Bantug said.
The Senate adjourned session yesterday without tackling the impeachment complaint of Vice President Duterte.
The gavel was banged without mentioning receipt of the Articles of Impeachment transmitted to the Senate by House of Representatives.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said it is ultimately the decision of the leadership not to immediately tackle the impeachment complaint that the Senate just received and not to discuss convening as an impeachment court.
“That is the judgment call of the leadership. It is only the Senate President or the Senate secretary who can give us the sequence of events,” Pimentel said in an interview after the session.
Pimentel said “in the normal course of events, the impeachment complaint will be tackled in June already.”
It will also take months to prepare for trial, from the drafting of impeachment court rules to the fitting for their impeachment robes, Pimentel said.
“There is a time lag in our actions here. Nothing unusual with that. One cannot just report to the plenary the receipt of an impeachment complaint. A formal communication to senators has to be made,” Pimentel said.
He said the senators did not talk about the last-minute decision of the House to transmit the Articles of Impeachment on the last session day before the break.
Now that they will be senator judges come June, Pimentel said they should not appear too eager to tackle the impeachment complaint upon receipt.
Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who is allied to Vice President Duterte as the police chief of former president Duterte, said the impeachment complaint will only be tackled by the senators sitting as impeachment judges when session resumes from June 2 to 13.
He lamented that his role as senator-judge would affect his campaign, but he hoped public sympathy would help his reelection bid.
“I have been expecting that to happen. The House wanted to hold us hostage by making us impeachment judges during the campaign season,” Dela Rosa said.
“The impeachment is a political exercise. But as a sitting judge, I have to maintain political neutrality. Just wait for my vote,” he added.
Before the Senate can convene as an impeachment court, a motion has to be made in plenary to accept receipt of the impeachment complaint, according to Sen. Joel Villanueva, who had served as majority leader.
Villanueva said there has to be “plenary action” first on the convening of the impeachment court and the crafting of the rules of impeachment.
Convening the impeachment court during the session break is just one of “many possibilities” on how the Senate would handle the complaint, Villanueva added.
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Senate special session
Asked if the Senate can hold a special session to accommodate the impeachment complaint and discuss the impeachment court rules, he said: “Everything is possible.”
The Senate has the “sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment,” according to Article XI titled “Accountability of Public Officers” of the 1987 Constitution.
An impeachable official can only be convicted upon two-thirds vote of all senators. This means Duterte can only be found guilty if there are 15 of 23 senators voting against her.
If convicted, Duterte will be removed from office and disqualified from holding public office. She may also be liable for prosecution in court.
If acquitted, she will be spared from another impeachment in a year because the Constitution bars impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within that period.
Duterte is the first Philippine vice president impeached by the House and set to face an impeachment trial in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the Akbayan party-list celebrated yesterday the impeachment of Vice President Duterte in the House of Representatives.
Akbayan Rep. Perci Cendaña said Duterte’s impeachment is “the beginning of the Duterte dynasty’s expiration from power, impunity and plunder.”
Cendaña, endorser of the first impeachment complaint, said the historic move is a decisive victory for the Filipino people and a clear warning to those who abuse power.
“You are impeached, Sara! Greed for money and power, lack of accountability makes one decay. All rotten has an end and expiration date. Consider this your due date,” Cendaña said.
Akbayan first nominee Chel Diokno also hailed Duterte’s impeachment as a triumph of the spirit of EDSA.
“As we mark 39 years since the EDSA People Power Revolution, the House’s impeachment of Sara Duterte is a testament to the power of active citizenship. The recent waves of anti-Sara protests found their epicenter at EDSA – the very ground where Filipinos once dismantled a dictatorship and where they now stand resolute against the Dutertes,” Diokno said.
However, Akbayan cautioned that the fight is far from over, with Diokno urging the Senate to take a firm stand. “The Senate must not falter. This is a moment of truth – will they stand with the people or enable the rot of unaccountability? The country deserves a Senate that will not cower in the face of power,” he said.
For its part, Gabriela women’s party said Duterte’s impeachment signaled their initial victory against corruption and misuse of public funds.
“The historic impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte by the House of Representatives is an initial victory for the Filipino people in their relentless fight against corruption and abuse of power,” Gabriela women’s party-list first nominee Sarah Elago said in a statement.
“The transmission of the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate opens a new chapter in our pursuit of accountability. We call on our senators to fulfill their constitutional duty and conduct a fair, thorough and transparent impeachment trial,” she added.
Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan also hailed Congress’ decision to impeach Duterte, stressing the next step is for the Senate to immediately convene into an impeachment court.
He said genuine accountability can only be achieved with Duterte’s conviction. “All eyes now shift to the Senate. May it fulfill its constitutional mandate and render the necessary verdict based on the evidence presented and not on political expediency,” Reyes said.
Duterte’s impeachment trial, Reyes said, should be a venue to educate the public on the systemic corruption in government, particularly the Vice President’s alleged misuse of confidential funds.
“Let the people be active participants, not just mere spectators in the upcoming trial,” he said.
Police units in Metro Manila are on alert to thwart possible violence that may occur in the wake of the impeachment of Vice President Duterte.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) director Brig. Gen. Anthony Aberin said the Quezon City Police District and the Regional Mobile Force Battalion are ready for mobilization to ensure security should Duterte’s supporters hold rallies. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Jose Rodel Clapano, Emmanuel Tupas
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