Impeachment complaint filed against VP Sara Duterte

MANILA, Philippines – A coalition of various organizations filed an impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte with the House of Representatives on Monday, December 2, kickstarting a long process that, if successful, could remove her from office. 

The groups, which include Magdalo, Akbayan, Mamamayang Liberal, members of the Catholic Church, and student leaders, want Duterte indicted for betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, and other high crimes.

“Vice President Duterte deserves to be impeached for her abuse of power and plunder of the nation’s coffers. The Filipino people deserve a vice president who is ethical, accountable, and committed to public service — not one who weaponises authority for personal gain,” Akbayan Representative Perci Cendaña, who is endorsing the complaint, said in a statement.

The House has been investigating Duterte over her alleged misuse of public funds as head of the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and as a former secretary of the Department of Education, her Cabinet post under the Marcos administration for two years until her resignation in June this year.

One contentious issue is how her offices handled confidential funds worth hundreds millions of pesos. During a recent hearing, it was discovered that her security personnel managed the secret funds, even though government rules dictate that special disbursing officers should be the ones in charge of the money.

Since the 1986 EDSA uprising, only four officials have been impeached by the House, but none of them was a sitting vice president. They are former president Joseph Estrada, former Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, former Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona, and former Commission on Elections chairperson Andres Bautista.

The chamber could process the impeachment complaint against Duterte immediately if it wants, but the filing less than six months before the term of the current lawmakers ends poses potential time constraints for Congress.

According to the Constitution, the House has 10 session days from the filing of the verified impeachment complaint to include it in the order of business, and three days thereafter to refer it to the appropriate committee. The panel has then 60 session days to submit a report to the plenary, after which the leadership has 10 session days to calendar it for resolution.

Based on the House calendar, the legislative branch is set to adjourn for the holidays by December 20. The House will reconvene on January 13 next year, but it has less than a month to process the complaint as it is scheduled for another break by February 7, before the campaign period for the 2025 elections begins. The next session period will take place after the elections, from June 2 to 13, a few weeks before a new batch of lawmakers are sworn in.  

House Secretary General Reginald Velasco told reporters on Monday that the complaint is unlikely to be referred to the committee this December, but is not ruling out the possibility that an impeachment vote may take place before the term of the current lawmakers expires. 

President Marcos’ appeal to lawmakers not to entertain impeachment efforts against Duterte, her 2022 running mate, may also complicate such initiatives.

“In the larger scheme of things, Sara is unimportant. So please do not file impeachment complaints,” Marcos’ leaked text message read.

Bataan 1st District Representative Geraldine Roman confirmed that her office received that text message.

“There are some representatives who want to continue with an impeachment move, but it’s a game of numbers here in the House. Personally, most probably, I won’t support that because I agree with the President that we should focus on more important things,” Roman said. 

Other House officials, however, downplayed the President’s appeal.

“That’s just a suggestion,” Velasco said, promising that the House will act independently.

“We have to take note that the executive branch is different from the legislative branch. We know from his statement, it’s actually a plea, it’s advice, it’s not really trying to tell the legislative what to do,” 1-Rider Representative Rodge Gutierrez added.

Duterte has decried the investigations into her use of public funds by the House as political persecution, and in a fit of rage even claimed that she had instructed an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife Liza, and Speaker Martin Romualdez if she were to be killed.

If impeached by the House, she will not immediately be ousted, but instead be tried in the Senate. A conviction will remove her from office. – Rappler.com