Julia Christine Botin

5 things to know about Vice President Sara Duterte and her impeachment

Article (news)

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1738814502517New Project (7).jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte at the UniTeam miting de avance on Aseana Avenue in Parañaque in 2022. <em>Fernando G. Sepe Jr., ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span></div><p>Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was riding high not so long ago, sailing to a landslide 2022 election victory with her then-ally and fellow political scion Ferdinand Marcos.</p><p>Less than three years later, the alliance between their powerful families lies in ruins and she is facing a battle for her political life in a Senate <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/house-impeaches-vp-sara-duterte-1551">impeachment trial,</a> accused of fraud, corruption and plotting to assassinate her former running mate.</p><p><br/><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABT9EiNlpX1ZsWqA&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script>AFP looks at how Duterte rose to prominence and what precipitated her spectacular fall.</p><div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:950px"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/173881679224320250131-impeach-vp-potest-MT-28.jpg" style="width:950px" class="fr-fic fr-dib"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Thousands of protesters from Akbayan, Tindig Pilipinas and Magdalo hold a protest along White Plains Avenue near the EDSA People Power Monument in Quezon City on January 31, 2025, and called for the impeachment of of Vice President Sara Duterte. Three complaints have been filed against Duterte over supposed fund misuse but none have reached the House Speaker&#x27;s office yet. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News </em></span></span></span></div><div><strong>Where did she come from?</strong></div><p>The 46-year-old lawyer and mother of three, tattooed and fond of motorcycles, is the eldest daughter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte and goes by the nickname Inday Sara.</p><p>She punched her way into the national consciousness in 2011 while mayor of the family&#x27;s southern stronghold of Davao, slugging a sheriff as television cameras rolled when he ignored her plea to delay the court-ordered demolition of a slum community.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0hL3cEEmATE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>It established her credentials as a politician who would fight for the poor -- a huge voting demographic in the archipelago nation of 117 million.</p><p>As her popular father&#x27;s presidency entered its final months, she surged in the polls to become the frontrunner in the May 2022 presidential election.</p><p>But in a shock last-minute deal, she agreed to step aside and run as vice president alongside Ferdinand Marcos, son and namesake of the man who ruled the Philippines for 20 years before his toppling in 1986.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/11/30/sara-duterte-2022-presidency-was-mine-already-2225">Sara Duterte: &#x27;2022 presidency was mine already&#x27;</a></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q3BhnnhNUPM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><strong>Why is she being impeached?</strong></div><p>On Wednesday, 215 members of the 306-seat House of Representatives voted to impeach Duterte, charging her with &quot;violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes&quot;.</p><p>The 44-page document accused her of hiding unexplained wealth, the murder of drug users while mayor of Davao, and plotting the assassination of President Marcos and members of his family.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/list-the-congressmen-who-voted-to-impeach-vp-sara-duterte-2336">LIST: The House members who voted to impeach VP Sara Duterte</a></div><div><br/></div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABT8km_aB5FW95_V&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script><p>While Marcos has previously disavowed the impeachment movement, his cousin and fellow assassination plot target, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, is the man who managed the process that has led to her looming trial.</p><p>Duterte was already the subject of a House investigation into her spending habits, and three separate complaints were filed against her in December.</p><div><strong>What happened to the Marcos alliance?</strong></div><p>Cracks in the Marcos-Duterte &quot;Unity&quot; alliance were visible within days of their landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election.</p><p>Marcos embarrassed Duterte when he refused to give her the defence portfolio she had publicly lobbied for, instead naming her education secretary.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/05/11/22/sara-duterte-agreed-to-lead-deped-marcos">Sara Duterte agreed to become education secretary: Marcos</a></div><p>Later accused of mishandling her budget, Duterte resigned the cabinet post in June 2024, at which point the long-simmering resentments exploded.</p><p>Former president Duterte stoked the flames by calling President Marcos a &quot;drug addict&quot; and urging the military and police to take over the government.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/2OK1sHAjcUs?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><p>Facing a House probe into her spending, the vice president held an expletive-laden news conference claiming to be the victim of an assassination plot and saying she had ordered the killings of Marcos, first lady Liza Marcos and Romualdez if she was assassinated first.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZLcjP5LBRcw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2024/11/26/sara-duterte-faces-subpoena-over-kill-plot-vs-marcos-vp-says-threat-a-plan-without-flesh-1230">Sara Duterte gets subpoena over kill plot vs Marcos; VP says threat a ‘plan without flesh’</a></div><div><strong>What happens now?</strong></div><p>The 24-seat Senate must now convene an impeachment tribunal to decide Duterte&#x27;s fate.</p><p>Sixteen votes are needed to convict on the charges, any one of which would result in her removal from office and disqualification from future public posts.</p><p>While the accused is not subject to arrest based on the Senate ruling, a conviction does not mean she is immune to prosecution in other venues.</p><div><br/></div><script data-wid="auto" type="text/javascript" src="https://content.viralize.tv/display/?zid=AAEyze-tm4MR6kEa&amp;cid=ABT69AQr2lbPWj-1&amp;activation=click&amp;vip_mode=playing&amp;vip_position=bottom-right"></script><p>According to the Philippine constitution, she would remain &quot;liable and subject to prosecution, trial, and punishment&quot; for any charges that include illegal activity.</p><p>Only four Filipino officials have ever been impeached, with just one conviction, then-Supreme Court chief justice Renato Corona. His 2012 trial lasted five months.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/IQssdiW9XAM?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>Does she have a political future?</strong></div><p>Despite her legal woes, Duterte told local television two days before the House vote that she would &quot;seriously consider&quot; a presidential run in 2028.</p><p>She has the effective backing of the Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ), a bloc-voting sect that organized a mammoth rally last month opposing her impeachment.</p><p>House Speaker Romualdez is widely expected to be Duterte&#x27;s opponent in the presidential election should she be legally allowed to run.</p><p>Jean Franco, political science assistant professor at the University of the Philippines, said Duterte&#x27;s popularity, currently at 49 percent, has been dented after months of congressional hearings that detailed many of the charges in the impeachment case.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/1/15/marcos-duterte-see-drop-in-satisfaction-ratings-in-december-sws-1652">Marcos, Duterte see drop in satisfaction ratings in December: SWS</a></div><p>An independent December survey showed 41 percent of adult Filipinos would support the vice president&#x27;s impeachment, with 35 percent against and 19 percent were undecided.</p><p>cgm/cwl/sn</p><p>© Agence France-Presse</p>

<p>Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was riding high not so long ago, sailing to a landslide 2022 election victory with her then-ally and fellow political scion Ferdinand Marcos.</p>

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was riding high not so long ago, sailing to a landslide 2022 election victory with her then-ally and fellow political scion Ferdinand Marcos.