Philippine VP faces new impeachment bids
Activists filed two impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President (VP) Sara Duterte, accusing her of large-scale corruption after an initial attempt to unseat her a year ago was shot down by the Supreme Court on a legal technicality.
The new impeachment bids filed before the House of Representatives are the latest episode in the stormy political life of Duterte, a 47-year-old lawyer and former city mayor who has been touted by supporters as a potential presidential contender in 2028. She is the daughter of ex- President Rodrigo Duterte, who oversaw bloody anti-drug crackdowns while in office from 2016 to 2022.
He was arrested and detained in the Netherlands by the International Criminal Court last year for alleged crimes against humanity. The vice president had blamed Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr, once her political ally, for allowing what she called the illegal arrest and kidnapping of her father last year by the global court. Her camp has claimed opponents were resorting to fabricated criminal cases to block her from running for president in 2028.
“We are prepared to confront these allegations squarely through the proper constitutional processes, confident that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis,” the vice president’s lawyer, Michael Poa, said in a statement. The new complaints centred on her alleged illegal use and mishandling of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3 million) in confidential funds from the vice president’s office, and also from her time as education secretary under Marcos. Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte.
