Philippine Congress impeaches VP Sara Duterte for second time | Politics News

Mindanao, Philippines — The Philippine House of Representatives has voted overwhelmingly to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time, even though her impending trial remains in question after her allies wrested control of the Philippine Senate.

A total of 257 out of 318 House members voted to impeach Duterte, far surpassing the one‑third threshold required to send the complaint to the Philippine Senate. A total of 26 members voted against the impeachment, while nine abstained.

The impeachment vote is the latest episode in the ongoing political feud between the Duterte family and incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, plunging the country into deeper political turmoil, even as it faces serious economic uncertainty due to the global energy crisis.

“The question here is not just about legality but also about morality and constitutionality,” said Gerville Luistro, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee that conducted the investigation and endorsed the impeachment complaint.

“We cannot stay blind and stay quiet. Our vote today is not just about one person. Our vote today is about what kind of a republic we want [to] leave to our children,” Luistro said.

The charges against Duterte include two violations of the constitution and betrayal of public trust for misuse of confidential government funds, failure to disclose her wealth, bribery and in relation to the death threats against Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

One of the most damning allegations in the complaint against the vice president includes private bank transactions flagged by the anti-money laundering agency of more than $110m.

“The scale of these transactions cannot be reasonably explained by lawful income, declared assets, or the businesses and professional activities attributed to the couple,” Terry Ridon, another House member and one of the main complainants, said in a statement posted on X on Monday.

“Today’s vote is therefore not merely a political exercise. It is a constitutional act of accountability,” Ridon said.

The House wants the Senate to declare Duterte “guilty” on all four articles of impeachment, seeks her removal as vice president and her “perpetual disqualification from holding any office” in government.

The impeachment process required a third of the votes from the House for approval to be sent to the Senate for trial. The vote threshold had already been reached as of May 7, a member of the House from Mindanao, Duterte’s stronghold, told Al Jazeera.

A previous impeachment motion against Duterte was passed in 2025 — it received 215 votes in a House of 313 members, not just well above the one-third needed, but more than two-thirds of the representatives. However, that impeachment was later voided by the Supreme Court over technical questions.

But though the House has now impeached Duterte again, a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to remove her from office — a scenario that is now far from certain, following the change of leadership in the chamber.

Shortly before the House impeached Duterte, her supporters elected Senator Alan Cayetano as president. Cayetano was foreign secretary during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte — Sara’s father — and the country’s head of state from 2016 to 2022.

In an interview with ABS-CBN News, ousted Senate President Vicente Sotto said he believes that the impeachment of Duterte was the reason for his removal.

In his speech following his election, Cayetano denied Sotto’s claim and said the impeachment is “enshrined in the Constitution”.

“The impeachment will be much, much more than dismissing a complaint because of political affiliation. It is also much, much more than convicting someone without evidence,” he said.

Political scientist Cleve V Arguelles said the House vote would still likely affect how the senators will decide on Duterte’s impeachment — even with Cayetano as the chamber’s head.

“A very high vote total could increase pressure on senators by reinforcing the perception that the evidence has become politically difficult to ignore, especially after months of hearings and public scrutiny over confidential funds and other allegations,” Arguelles told Al Jazeera.

“Many senators will be thinking directly about how their impeachment vote will affect their future electoral chances.”

Duterte and Marcos ran as a team in 2022, but their political alliance later unravelled, leading to their bitter split and the arrest of the elder Duterte by the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and now the impeachment of the vice president, who has already declared her intention to run in the 2028 presidential race.

Last week, members of the House Committee on Justice voted unanimously, 53-0, to find probable cause to impeach Duterte, and endorse the complaint for debate in the House.

On May 7, Duterte said whatever the outcome of the impeachment “is written by God”.

“Based on our discussion earlier with [former] President Duterte, everything that happens in a person’s life is written by God. So, if I am impeached, that is written by God. If I am not impeached, see you tomorrow, Duterte told supporters after visiting her father in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 6.