| Efforts to impeach Sara Duterte | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Accused | Sara Duterte (Vice President of the Philippines) |
| Date | December 2, 2024 to present |
| Outcome | Pending |
In December 2024, two impeachment complaints were formally filed against Sara Duterte, the Vice President of the Philippines, and the deputy of President Bongbong Marcos.
Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte was elected as president and vice president respectively in the 2022 Philippine election as part of the UniTeam alliance.
Duterte was appointed as Marcos' first Secretary of Education after they both took office in mid-2022. [1] Although she preferred to be Secretary of Defense [2] Over the next two years, Duterte's relationship with Marcos' allies detoriated, particularly with House Speaker Martin Romualdez and Marcos' wife and first lady Liza Araneta. [1] She resigned in May 2023 from Lakas–CMD where she served as chairperson. Lakas is part of the ruling coalition. [3] [4]
In January 2024, President Marcos insisted that the UniTeam is still "vibrant", referring to his working relationship with his deputy. [5]
Duterte tendered resignation from her position as education secretary in June 2024. [6] When asked about her friendship with Marcos in September 2024, she said they were never friends and merely running mates in the 2022 elections. [7] Marcos responded expressing he was "deceived" about their supposed friendship. [8] In October 2024, she detailed her fallout with Marcos, who she says "does not know how to be president". [9] [10]
On November 29, 2024, Bongbong Marcos confirmed that he had directed the House of Representatives to refrain from filing an impeachment motion against Sara Duterte. This is despite his rift with Vice President Sara Duterte which he described as a "a storm in a teacup" and maintained that any potential effort to impeach his deputy would be a waste of time that it "does not make a difference to even one single Filipino life.". [11]
The Makabayan bloc, has considered filing an impeachment case against Duterte back in August 2023 over alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President for 2022. [12] The plan was later judged a "premature". [13]
In August 2024, Sara Duterte said she expects an impeachment case to be filed against her following her fallout with the president and information she heard from allies within the lower house. [14]
In September 2024, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan has described impeachment of Duterte as necessary over her use of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023. [15] In the same month, the House of Representatives have denied any plot to file an impeachment complaint. [16]
In December 2, 2024, the first formal impeachment case was lodged against Vice President Sara Duterte. [17] The complaint listed 24 articles which was categorized in four points – "graft and corruption", "bribery", "betrayal of public trust" and "other high crimes". [18] Aside from corruption, other cited reasons include her alleged role in the extra-judicial killings of the drug suspects and failure to make a stance against China's aggressive sovereignty claims in the South China Sea dispute. [17]
The second impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed on December 4, 2024 by 70 activists led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. [19] [20] They cited a single reason which is betrayal of public trust over the illegal use and mishandling of confidential funds. Duterte is accused of committing "gross abuse of discretionary powers" over the ₱612.5 million confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education. [19] [21]
On December 5, 2024, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco disclosed that a third complaint by select members of the House of Representativesis being prepared. [22]
Antonio Soriano of the Citizens' Watch for Good Governance questioned the "shotgun" approach of the impeachment complaint. Soriano says that intent regarding Duterte's threat against the president has to be proven. He also believes that Duterte's action under the capacity of mayor of Davao City can't be used for grounds for her impeachment and details of her alleged misused of confidential funds can't be publicly disclosed. [23]
The impeachment procedure is seen gaining traction in the House of Representatives, but the same is not certain in the Senate, with 16 out of 24 votes needed to convict Duterte. [23] [24]
Ronald Llamas of the Galahad Consulting Agency, and political advisor of former president Benigno Aquino III believes the delaying the impeachment proceedings to after the 2025 mid-terms election would render Marcos a lame-duck president. Llamas said that Marcos' earlier pronouncement to discourage impeachment proceedings can either be taken "at face value" or as a "tactical move" [25] He previously said in August 2024 that formal impeachment proceedings were likely to begin before the 2025 election. [26]
Soriano even speculated that the motions might even benefit a potential electoral bid of Duterte in the upcoming 2028 elections. [23]
The Office of the President on December 3, distances itself from the issue and reiterates its stance of not encouraging any impeachment motions stating its the right of private citizens to make such moves. [27] Senate President Chiz Escudero had advised his colleagues not to make public pronouncements about the impeachment complaints. [25]
The Iglesia ni Cristo on December 4 has announced that it plans to hold a rally to oppose the impeachment efforts concurring with President Marcos' stance in November 2024 that efforts to remove Duterte from office is unconstructive. [28]
If Duterte is impeached, Marcos could select among the qualified members of the House of Representatives and Senate to fill the vacancy. [29]
Antonio "Sonny" Fuentes Trillanes IV is a former Philippine naval officer who also served as a senator of the Philippines from 2007 to 2019. He is known for his involvement in the Oakwood mutiny of 2003 and the Manila Peninsula siege in 2007 in protest against the Arroyo administration, and he is a vocal critic of the Duterte administration.
Saturnino "Satur" Cunanan Ocampo is a Filipino politician, activist, journalist, and writer.
Liza Lagorza Maza is a Filipina politician and activist who was the lead convenor of the National Anti-Poverty Commission under the Duterte administration from August 2016 until her resignation in August 2018. She was a member of the Philippine House of Representatives, representing the Gabriela Women's Party.
Teodoro "Teddy" Acevedo Casiño is a Filipino activist, writer, and journalist. He was a member of the House of Representatives for Bayan Muna. He is currently the chairperson of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan). On December 4, 2024, Casiño and 74 others filed the second impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, citing betrayal of public trust for her office's alleged misuse of confidential funds.
Neri Javier Colmenares is a Filipino legislator, human rights lawyer and activist. He was an associate of the Asian Law Centre at Melbourne Law School when he was completing his Ph.D. in law on "The Writ of Amparo and the International Criminal Court." He also lectured at the University of Melbourne on International Human Rights Law and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
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Sara Zimmerman Duterte-Carpio, commonly known as Inday Sara, is a Filipino lawyer and politician who is the 15th and current vice president of the Philippines. She is the third female vice president, the third vice president to come from Mindanao, and the youngest vice president in Philippine history. A daughter of 16th president Rodrigo Duterte, she previously served as the mayor of Davao City from 2016 to 2022, and from 2010 to 2013. She was also Davao City's vice mayor from 2007 to 2010.
Ferdinand Martin Gomez Romualdez is a Filipino businessman, lawyer and politician serving as the Speaker of the House of Representatives since 2022. He is also serving as the representative for the 1st district of Leyte since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2016. He formerly served as the House Majority Leader from 2019 to 2022, and unsuccessfully ran for senator in the 2016 elections. He is a first cousin of President Bongbong Marcos.
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The 2022 Philippine presidential and vice presidential elections were held on May 9, 2022, as part of the 2022 general election. This was the 17th direct presidential election and 16th vice presidential election in the Philippines since 1935, and the sixth sextennial presidential and vice presidential election since 1992.
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Leni Robredo, the 14th Vice President of the Philippines, has held various foreign, domestic, economic, and social positions over the course of her career. She has supported women's rights and women empowerment, human rights, ending endo contractualization, and policies that are pro-poor. As the chairperson of the Liberal Party during her vice presidency, Robredo was the leader of the opposition against President Rodrigo Duterte, taking positions that are contrary to that of the Duterte administration's policies, opposing federalism and charter change, the reimposition of the death penalty, warmer relations with China, and the war on drugs.
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UniTeam was an electoral alliance in the Philippines formed to support the candidacies of Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte in the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections and their allies in the 2022 Philippine general election. The alliance was formalized on November 29, 2021, with Senator Imee Marcos coining the name UniTeam.
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