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Duterte is the first Philippine Vice President to be impeached (Getty Photos) |
The Philippine House of Representatives voted Wednesday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, and immediately sent the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.
A total of 215 lawmakers endorsed the fourth impeachment complaint against VP Duterte, a day before the current session of Congress is set to end.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez announced the approval of the impeachment complaint, saying the vote it garnered was more than the required one-third of all members of the lower chamber.
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The impeachment complaint was received by the Senate Secretary just before 6pm. A date for the trial has yet to be set.
The articles of impeachment against Duterte is based on the grounds of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
Last month, three groups filed separate impeachment complaints against the Vice President, accusing her of various crimes ranging from the misuse of hundreds of millions of pesos in govenment funds to plotting against the life of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr.
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The Philippines’ 24 senators must now set a trial date for the impeachment complaint. It needs the vote of at least two-thirds of all senators to pass muster.
The impeachment vote comes days before the start of campaigning for mid-term elections in the Philippines, seen to set the tone for the 2028 presidential race.
Duterte, who was expected to succeed his father Rodrigo R. Duterte as president in 2022, took a back seat to President Marcos instead, and ran as his vice-president. She is now seen as the frontrunner for the top post in the 2028 elections.
The relationship between the country's two top officials soured after Duterte was asked to appear before the House for her alleged misuse of hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds alloted to her both as vice president and former secretary of education.
In retaliation, Duterte said in a live social media broadcast that she had asked someone to kill Marcos if she was herself assassinated.
The Vice President has yet to respond to the impeachment move, but her elder brother, Davao Rep. Paolo Duterte slammed it as political persecution.
Rep. Duterte said he was “appalled and enraged” by what he called as desperate and politically motivated efforts to railroad the vice president’s impeachment.