Lawmakers vote to impeach Duterte

Philippine lawmakers have voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, paving the way for a Senate trial that could see her removed from office.

The vote follows the filing of a trio of complaints in December accusing Duterte of crimes ranging from the "brazen misuse" of millions of dollars in public funds to plotting President Ferdinand Marcos' assassination.

"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," House Speaker Martin Romualdez told lawmakers.

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.

Yesterday's vote comes days before campaigning officially begins for midterm elections, which are widely expected to set the table for the 2028 presidential race.

Dennis Coronacion, the chairman of the political science department at the University of Santo Tomas, believes whether 16 senators cast their vote for Duterte's impeachment could come down to President Marcos.

"If Marcos is committed, I think getting the required number of 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.

Duterte was widely expected to succeed her father Rodrigo as president in the 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 were assassinated.

She later denied that her comments constituted a death threat, saying she had only been expressing "consternation" with the administration's failures.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE