Lodging a first in global political history, the Philippines has its top two government officials as subjects of impeachment complaints before its House of Representatives.
Activist legislators endorsed a new impeachment complaint against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte mere 15 days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. himself became a respondent of the process of removing top government officials.
With not only the Head of State already accused of enabling corruption in the country’s annual national budget, Marcos’ Constitutional successor will be unable to replace him as Duterte herself is accused of corruption.
The Makabayan coalition of progressive lawmakers endorsed the fifth impeachment complaint against Duterte on Monday after the Philippine Supreme Court has decided that the previous four complaints filed against her in 2025 was unconstitutional on various reasons.
The Court decision striking down the previous impeachment against Duterte has expired last December and a new complaint may again be lodged against the second highest official in the Southeast Asian country.
Corrupt officials
The three Makabayan legislators –Antonio Tinio, Renee Co, and Sarah Elago—said in their complaint Duterte must be ousted for “gross abuse of discretionary powers” over at least ₱612.5 million worth of funds she fails to account for.
The amount was spent in questionable activities such as renting safe houses for intelligence operations the agencies she handled—the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education—are not supposed to implement.
Duterte is also accused of anomalous implementation of cash aid grants to thousands of individuals who are not included in any government list as legitimate indigent citizens, among other activities red-flagged by the audit commission.
The consolidated fourth complaint that got her impeached last year also included accusations Duterte threatened to have her erstwhile political ally Marcos Jr. assassinated when their political alliance spectacularly split in 2024.
The former Senate leadership however refused to proceed with the impeachment trial that led to the ouster of Senator Francis Escudero as chamber president.
The Supreme Court decision issued last month upheld Senate’s reticence in trying Duterte, paving the way for today’s complaint against the vice president.
The Makabayan bloc is also the endorser of the second impeachment complaint against Marcos Jr, who said the president is “culpable violation of the Constitution, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, other high crimes, and betrayal of public trust.”
A leader of the House Committee on Justice said the Makabayan-endorsed complaint may be consolidated with the first impeachment complaint filed by lawyer Andre De Jesus and endorsed by Representative Jett Nisay of Pusong Pinoy Party.
The Philippines holds the distinction of having a sitting president formally impeached in Joseph Estrada in 2000.
Estrada’s contentious impeachment trial at the Philippine Senate led to massive protests and his ouster from office in January 2001. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
