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Sara Duterte (Image credits: ANI)
MANILA: Philippine lawmakers voted on Wednesday to impeach
vice president Sara Duterte
, who has fallen out spectacularly with the country's leader, paving the way for a senate trial that could see her removed from office.
The house resolution charges Duterte with "violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes".
Accusations spelled out in the 44-page document include an alleged Duterte plot to assassinate President
Ferdinand Marcos
, first lady Liza Marcos and house speaker Martin Romualdez that has been the subject of an investigation.
"Having been filed by more than one-third of the membership of the
House of Representatives
, or a total of 215 members... the motion is approved," Romualdez, a Marcos cousin, told lawmakers Wednesday afternoon.
At a small rally outside the house of representatives, student protester Darlene Cerico told AFP the impeachment represented a major victory, if an incomplete one.
"I feel so happy because this proves the power of collective action. We know there are still many things to accomplish... to fully hold Sara Duterte accountable," Cerico said.
The fate of the former president's daughter now lies in the hands of the Philippines' 24 senators, two-thirds of whom must vote for her impeachment to remove her from office and disqualify her from future public positions. A trial date has yet to be set.
Wednesday's impeachment vote follows on the heels of a trio of complaints filed in December that accused Duterte of a range of crimes including the "brazen misuse" of millions of dollars in public funds.
It also comes days before campaigning officially begins for mid-term elections, widely expected to set the table for the
2028 presidential race
.
'Political opportunity'
Whether 16 senators cast their vote for Duterte's impeachment could come down to President Marcos, Dennis Coronacion, chairman of the political science department at the University of Santo Tomas, told AFP.
"If (Marcos) is committed to this one, to the impeachment process... I think getting the required number of Senate votes is possible," he said.
But should the administration stay hands-off, the chances of Duterte being impeached are closer to 50-50, Coronacion said, pointing to the sitting senators' need for votes from the vice-president's stronghold of Mindanao in the coming election.
Jean Franco, assistant professor of political science at the University of the Philippines, said the coming trial represented a major opportunity for incumbent senators, who would benefit from hours of free television exposure.
"This is a political opportunity for politicians. It can make or break politicians this impeachment process," she said, adding those not already in office would be on the outside looking in.
"The game has been changed by this impeachment. All eyes are going to be on the process, so you're just going to be reacting to what's going to happen."
Family feud
The relationship between Duterte and President Marcos is at a nadir, their former alliance giving way to a months-long public battle that has seen wild accusations traded, including the alleged death threat.
But Marcos had previously urged Congress not to pursue Duterte's impeachment, calling it a "storm in a teacup" that would distract the legislature from its primary responsibilities.
Marcos's executive secretary Lucas Bersamin, however, said Monday that the office of the president would "not interfere" with the impeachment complaints.
Duterte was widely tipped to succeed her father Rodrigo as president in 2022 elections but stepped aside to back Marcos and later ran for vice president on his ticket.
But the alliance has since imploded. In November, she delivered an expletive-laden speech saying she had ordered someone to kill Marcos if she herself was assassinated.
She later denied that her comments constituted a death threat, saying she had only been expressing "consternation" with the administration's failures.
The alleged assassination threat was among the allegations included in the last of the three complaints filed against Duterte.
With her impeachment, Duterte becomes one of only four high-ranking officials to share that fate since the Philippines returned to democracy after the 20-year rule of Ferdinand Marcos Sr came to an end in 1986.
Along with a supreme court justice and a high-profile prosecutor, then-president Joseph Estrada was impeached in November 2000 on charges of embezzlement and taking kickbacks from illegal gambling operations.
When the senate tribunal refused to accept key evidence, Filipinos took to the streets in a bloodless revolt, leading Estrada to step down when the military withdrew its support.
