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MANILA, Philippines (AP) — The Philippine Senate president said Thursday the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will begin after Congress reopens in June and vowed to avoid a repeat of stalled 2001 impeachment proceedings that sparked massive protests and forced a president to step down.
The previous day, the House of Representatives impeached Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, on a range of accusations that include plotting to assassinate the president, large-scale corruption, and failing to strongly denounce China’s aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea.
At least 215 of the House's more than 300 legislators signed the complaint — significantly more than the required number — allowing it to be transmitted immediately to the Senate, which will serve as the impeachment court. The impeachment came on the last day of congressional session before a four-month break.
Sara Duterte didn’t immediately comment, but her brother Rep. Paolo Duterte said the impeachment was “a clear act of political persecution.” Rival lawmakers maneuvered to quickly collect signatures and push a “baseless impeachment case” to the Senate, he said.
Senate President Francis Escudero said under the law an impeachment court can only be convened and senators sworn in as jurors when the Senate resumes its session on June 2.
"Legally, it cannot be done,” Escudero said in a news conference when asked if a special Senate session could be called to start the impeachment trial earlier.
Nonetheless, many activists and critics argue the body could do more to provide a swift trial.
“The Senate’s foot-dragging on the impeachment process vs. Sara Duterte will be a roadblock to the pursuit of accountability,” said Cristina Palabay, a leader of a human rights alliance.
The move by House legislators, many of them allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., deepens a bitter political rift between the two highest leaders of one of Asia’s most rambunctious democracies.
The signatories included the president’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president’s cousin. The petition asks the Senate remove Duterte from office and ban her from holding public office for life.
In a Southeast Asian country long plagued by political divisions, impeachment trials can become politically volatile. In early 2001, an impeachment trial of then President Joseph Estrada on allegations including bribery and corruption stalled over a vote not to open an envelope containing records of his suspected bank account.
Massive protests ensued, eventually forcing Estrada to step down.
Asked how that could be avoided in the impeachment trial of Duterte, Escudero said steps were being taken early to ensure “the credibility and impartiality of the impeachment court.” No side should be prevented from expressing their positions, he added.
The impeachment complaint against the vice president focused on a death threat she made against the president, his wife and the House speaker last year, irregularities in the use of her office’s intelligence funds and her failure to stand up to Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea, according to proponents of the petition.
She told a Nov. 23 online news conference that she had contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Romualdez if she were killed, a statement she said wasn’t a joke. She later said it wasn't a threat, but an expression of concern for her own safety.
Allegations of graft and corruption against her also emanated from a monthslong and televised House investigation last year on the alleged misuse of 612.5 million pesos ($10.5 million) of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary. She later left the education post as her political differences with Marcos deepened.
She has denied any wrongdoing but refused to respond to questions in detail during the tense televised hearings.
The impeachment complaint accused Duterte of undermining the Marcos government’s policies, including by describing the administration’s handling of territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea as a “fiasco.” The complaint also mentioned her silence over China’s increasingly assertive actions in the disputed waters.
