VICE PRESIDENT Sara Duterte was impeached by the House of the Representatives on Monday, May 11, a year after the Supreme Court (SC) declared the previous impeachment proceedings against her unconstitutional.
Voting 257-25 with nine abstentions, lawmakers approved the articles of impeachment against Duterte, formally transmitting the case to the Senate for trial.
The Constitution requires one-third of all the members of the House to approve the impeachment, or at least 107 votes in a 316-member chamber.
The voting came more than a year after Duterte faced similar impeachment raps, only to be flagged by the Supreme Court as a violation of the one-year bar rule laid in the Constitution.
This marks Duterte as the first vice president to be impeached twice, and to face an impeachment trial.
Impeachable officials include the president, the vice president, the chief justice, and heads of constitutional commissions such as the Commission on Elections (Comelec), the Commission on Audit (COA), and the Civil Service Commission (CSC).
Duterte was impeached on four major grounds, including the alleged misuse of P612 million of confidential funds as the education secretary, unexplained wealth, and banking records discrepancies in her Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALNs).
Also cited in the complaint were allegations that officials in the Department of Education were bribed and that Duterte made assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
These equate to impeachable offenses such as culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery, and high crimes.
Duterte has denied wrongdoing and described the impeachment process as politically motivated, maintaining that the accusations were meant to derail her potential bid for the presidency in 2028.
What’s next?
Following the House vote, the articles of impeachment are expected to be transmitted to the Senate, which will convene as an impeachment court.
Senators will serve as judges during the trial, and a two-thirds vote–that is 16 out of 24 senators—will be needed to convict Duterte and remove her from office.
However, it will only take nine votes to acquit the vice president; members of the Senate with close ties to the Duterte clan have already made public their opposition to the convening of the impeachment court.
The trial proceedings will happen under the new leadership of Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who secured the numbers to oust Senator Vicente Sotto III from the Senate presidency on the same day as the House plenary vote.
Thirteen senators voted in favor of Cayetano as the new president, including Sotto himself, as well as the following:
- Sen. Loren Legarda
- Sen. Pia Cayetano
- Sen. Jinggoy Estrada
- Sen. Chiz Escudero
- Sen. Joel Villanueva
- Sen. Imee Marcos
- Sen. Bong Go
- Sen. Bato dela Rosa
- Sen. Robin Padilla
- Sen. Mark Villar
- Sen. Camile Villar
- Sen. Rodante Marcoleta
Nine senators voted to retain Sotto in the top Senate spot. They were:
- Sen. Lito Lapid
- Sen. Ping Lacson
- Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano
- Sen. Kiko Pangilinan
- Sen. Bam Aquino
- Sen. Risa Hontiveros
- Sen. Win Gatchalian
- Sen. Raffy Tulfo
- Sen. Erwin Tulfo
Dela Rosa, who faces arrest for crimes against humanity, emerged from hiding to cast his vote for Cayetano.
Senators Miguel Zubiri and JV Ejercito abstained from voting. With reports from Chalssea Kate C. Echegoyen and Carlo Jose H. Ruga
