Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte faces Senate trial after House impeaches her

UPDATED at 11:31 a.m. ET on 2025-02-07

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte will face a trial before her country’s Senate after the House of Representatives impeached her for alleged constitutional violations and corruption, accusations which her family rejected as “political persecution.”

Duterte, the ex-ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and daughter of a former president, on Wednesday became the first vice president in the Philippines to be impeached – a dramatic turn that blew up an already wide-open feud between the politically influential Marcos and Duterte clans. 

As many as 215 lawmakers, more than two-thirds of the 306 member-House, endorsed the complaint against Duterte – enough to transmit it to the Senate. The upper house of the Philippine Congress will have to convene as an impeachment tribunal at a yet to be determined date to try Sara Duterte.

On Wednesday, there was no immediate public response from the vice president. Her impeachment occurred a few months ahead of the May mid-term elections, and it is uncertain that the current Senate can hold and complete the trial in time before the polls. 

“Having been filed by more than one-third of the membership of the House, or a total of 215 members, is there any objection? The Chair hears none. The motion is approved,” said House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Marcos, Sara Duterte’s running mate in the 2022 elections.

The vice president is accused of violating the constitution, graft and corruption, plotting to assassinate Marcos, betrayal of public trust and other high crimes. Among these were the alleged misuse of U.S. $10.6 million of funds and corruption, when she served as education secretary, and unexplained wealth.

“This is about upholding the Constitution and ensuring that no public official, regardless of their position, is above the law,” Romualdez said.

For Duterte’s trial, the Senate would sit as an impeachment court, possibly when sessions of the current upper house briefly resume in June. If convicted, she could be removed from office and disqualified from holding any public post – a move seen as hampering her potential 2028 presidential bid.

President Marcos had earlier denied involvement in the impeachment moves against Sara Duterte and said now was not “the time to go through that.”

However, his cousin, Romualdez, and his eldest son – Congressman Ferdinand Alexander Marcos – were among the top House officials who endorsed the complaint against the vice president.

Sara Duterte’s brother, a congressional representative from Davao City, the Duterte family’s southern home base, said the cases against his sister were “politically motivated.” He accused some congressmen of hastily collecting signatures before Congress went on a break later on Wednesday. 

The “immediate approval and transmittal of this baseless impeachment case is a clear act of political persecution,” he said.

“This administration is treading on dangerous ground,” he said, warning that they had the support of the Iglesia Ni Cristo, a politically influential religious group.

Last month, about 1 million people attended a rally that the group organized against calls for Duterte’s impeachment. 

“If the Marcos administration thinks it can push this sham impeachment without consequence, they are gravely mistaken,” Paolo Duterte said.

He warned that “growing discontent and frustration” among Filipinos nationwide would “not be contained for long.”

“Mark my words: this reckless abuse of power will not end in their favor,” he said.

But former Sen. Leila de Lima, who was jailed by the previous administration of Vice President Duterte’s father Rodrigo, thanked the House for “listening to the voice of the people.”

“Let us uphold accountability and transparency in our government,” she told BenarNews. “Let the abusive people pay.”

De Lima was jailed for six years on drug-related charges, which she said were falsely pushed by former President Rodrigo Duterte – Sara’s father – to silence her for noisily opposing his deadly and highly controversial drug war. The court cleared de Lima of all the charges last June.

House member Perci Cendaña, one of those who endorsed the impeachment complaint, thanked his colleagues for the “decisive victory.”

“Sara Duterte’s expiration date from power is near,” he told reporters. “This impeachment is the people’s verdict against the Dutertes’ long-standing corruption and lack of accountability.”

“The message is clear, the ear of impunity is ending, and those who plunder and oppress will be held to account.”

Bitter falling out

Sara Duterte had earlier denied any wrongdoing and claimed that her political enemies orchestrated the impeachment moves against her.

In June 2024, Sara Duterte quit her cabinet post as education secretary after falling out with President Marcos. 

The vice president’s resignation sealed the collapse of a once-formidable political alliance between the Marcoses and Dutertes, which had trampled the opposition led by former Vice President Leni Robredo in the 2022 national polls. 

Despite leading in popularity surveys before the 2022 presidential election, Sara Duterte opted to enter the race as Marcos’ running mate. In the Philippines, the top two offices are elected separately.

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In November, the feud reached an all-time low when the vice president publicly said that she had hired someone to target Marcos, his spouse and his cousin, House Speaker Romualdez, for assassination should she be killed in a plot against her. Sara Duterte later said her statement was taken out of context.

Her father – who had accused Marcos of reneging on a promise to protect him from an International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation over thousands of deaths under his drug war – also called on the military that month to protect the constitution from what he described as “fractured governance” under the current administration.

Last month, Marcos removed Sara Duterte and her father as members of the country’s National Security Council, a sensitive post that places them in contact with top security officials.

The political split of the country’s two highest leaders is one of the most high-profile and consequential ones the Philippines has ever had, exposing its weak political institutions, analysts said.

After an all-out feud broke out between the Marcoses and Dutertes, Sara Duterte said she was planning to run for president in 2028. 

Marcos cannot seek reelection but talks were rife that another family member might run for the top post.

As lawmakers are busy campaigning ahead of the midterm elections on May 12, it remains unclear if there is time for the Senate to convene and finish the impeachment trial before the new set of lawmakers takes oath on June 30.

The current Senate has little time left because it will only briefly resume between June 3 and June 13. 

Senate President Francis Escudero, who will serve as the impeachment presiding officer, did not immediately respond for comment. 

Gerard Carreon in Manila contributed to this report.

The story has been corrected to reflect that the number of lawmakers who endorsed the impeachment complaint against Duterte was more than two-thirds of the 306 members of the House of Representatives.