Home will attempt to impeach VP Sara Duterte once more

The complaints towards Vice President Sara Duterte are referred to the justice committee, marking the initiation of the impeachment proceedings towards her

MANILA, Philippines – The Home of Representatives transmitted the 4 impeachment complaints filed towards Vice President Sara Duterte to the justice committee on Monday, February 23, placing the nation’s second prime official in a well-recognized predicament from final yr.

Referral of the petitions to the panel, as per Supreme Court docket jurisprudence, signifies that the impeachment proceedings towards the Vice President have been formally initiated.

The Home, nevertheless, is taking the lengthy route this time, making certain a extra tedious course of to have the Vice President indicted for her alleged offenses.

If the petitions move the preliminary take a look at of kind and substance, the justice committee will probably be compelled to attempt to get the Vice President’s formal response to the allegations, and even invite her to the hearings. The panel has a most of 60 session days to wrap up its investigation.

Final yr, an impeachment criticism towards the Vice President was swiftly transmitted to the Senate because it was signed by greater than one-third of all Home members. As a result of the impeachment advocates had the numbers, they have been capable of avail of the fast-track mode beneath the 1987 Structure.

That impeachment bid, nevertheless, stalled within the Senate, and was finally declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court docket, which faulted the Home for failing to behave on the primary three complaints towards the Vice President, thereby ensuing within the violation of the constitutional one-year bar.

This yr, the three impeachment complaints have been endorsed by a complete of eight lawmakers, a far cry from the 215 congressional endorsers in 2025.

The endorsers this yr, nevertheless, embody Deputy Speaker Paolo Ortega and Manila sixth District Consultant Bienvenido Abante, signaling that the hassle has the potential backing of the bulk, though Ortega insisted his endorsement is his private determination.

The refiled petitions echo arguments raised within the complaints final yr — that Duterte needs to be faraway from workplace for her alleged misuse of confidential funds, and bribery of training officers.

A minimum of one of many three complaints additionally cited the next offenses: her alleged unexplained wealth, her supposed position within the extrajudicial killings in Davao, her obvious threats to the lifetime of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his household, and her obvious refusal to acknowledge the Home’s authority throughout funds deliberations.

The initiation of the impeachment proceedings towards the Vice President comes simply hours earlier than her detained father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, undergoes a pre-trial listening to on the Worldwide Prison Court docket in The Hague to substantiate the fees towards him. – Rappler.com