The Philippine vice-president, Sara Duterte, has been impeached over allegations she misused public funds, amassed unexplained wealth and threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his wife, in a case that could complicate her presidential ambitions.
Duterte, the daughter of the detained former president Rodrigo Duterte, was impeached by an overwhelming majority of lawmakers in the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos.
She previously ran to be vice-president in a joint campaign with Marcos, but they are now fierce enemies.
The complaints against her will now be passed to the Senate, where she will face trial. If found guilty, Duterte will be banned from public office, derailing her plan to run for president in 2028.
She has denied any wrongdoing. In a statement, her defence counsel said: “The burden now rests on the accusers to substantiate their claims in accordance with the constitution, the law, and rules on evidence.”
Duterte has led many early opinion polls ahead of the 2028 election, and her family remains a powerful force in Philippine politics despite the legal battles surrounding it. Her father was last year arrested and sent to the international criminal court in The Hague. There he faces charges of crimes against humanity in relation to his so-called “war on drugs”, which killed thousands of people during his 2016-2022 presidency.
It is far from certain that Sara Duterte will be found guilty by the Senate. A conviction in an impeachment trial requires the backing of two-thirds of its 24 members, and analysts point out that Duterte has stronger support in the Senate compared with the lower house, after candidates aligned with her family performed better than expected in midterm elections last year.
Shortly before the impeachment vote, the Senate elected a long-time ally of the Duterte family, Alan Peter Cayetano, as its new president.
Cayetano was a running mate of Rodrigo Duterte and served as foreign secretary under his administration. He denied his appointment was related to the impeachment vote.
This is the second time Sara Duterte has been impeached by the lower house. She was also impeached on similar grounds last year but avoided a trial after she successfully petitioned the Philippine supreme court to declare the move unconstitutional on a technicality.
The allegations against Duterte focus on claims she misused public funds while vice-president and as education secretary, a post she previously held, and include bribery. She is also accused of threatening Marcos, his wife, Louise Araneta-Marcos, and his cousin Martin Romualdez, a former house speaker.
The threat was made during an online press conference during which Duterte said she would have Marcos, his wife and Romualdez killed by an assassin if she herself were killed.
She later said she was not threatening the president and that her comments had been misinterpreted.
Marcos, a son of the former president Ferdinand Marcos, has tried to distance himself from the case against his former ally. He also survived separate impeachment efforts in February, with his allies in the lower house voting to dismiss allegations against him, including claims of corruption. Marcos also denied wrongdoing.
