Rowegie Abanto

Vice President Sara Duterte. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Vice President Sara Duterte announces her intention to run for the presidency in the 2028 national elections during a press conference at the Office of the Vice President (OVP) headquarters in Mandaluyong City on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. Duterte outlines her priorities, including governance reforms, public service continuity, and national development. Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

VP SARA DUTERTE

ABS-CBN News

<div><span class="fr-img-caption fr-fic fr-dib" style="width:960px;display:block" width="960"><span class="fr-img-wrap"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/177842567374820260218-vp-sara-duterte-presidency-MT5 (2).jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/><span class="fr-inner" style="text-align:left">Vice President Sara Duterte. <em>Maria Tan, ABS-CBN News</em></span></span></span>MANILA — House lawmakers on Monday will put to a vote whether or not to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for a second time, with early estimates indicating there is more than enough support to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate for trial.</div><p>All 316 members of the House of Representatives are expected to meet today to cast their votes on the fate of Duterte, 47, who could be the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice.</p><p>Duterte being <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/2/5/house-impeaches-vp-sara-duterte-1551">impeached again</a> by the House means the chamber has found sufficient grounds to charge her over impeachable offenses. </p><p>A guilty verdict at the Senate will remove the Vice President from her post, and senator-judges could bar her from holding any public office permanently. </p><p>She announced her intention <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/2/18/sara-duterte-to-run-for-president-1102">to run for president</a> in February.</p><p>Duterte, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and called the complaints politically motivated, is facing charges over her <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/29/nbi-duterte-threat-marcos-impeachment-hearing-1315">alleged death threat</a> against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and her <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/14/coa-denies-sara-duterte-petition-to-review-notice-of-disallowance-over-p73-m-confidential-funds-1905">supposed misuse of multimillion-peso confidential funds</a>. </p><p>She is also fighting accusations of having <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/22/amlc-reports-33-suspicious-bank-transactions-under-sara-duterte-husband-1431">unexplained wealth</a> and of failing to truthfully declare her <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/22/ombudsman-sara-duterte-saln-house-panel-impeachment-1050">net worth</a>, which her lawyers have <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/23/vp-duterte-lawyer-amlc-data-has-tendency-to-show-bloated-figures-1536">rejected</a>.</p><p>Ahead of Monday&#x27;s vote, the majority of the two largest political parties at the House of Representatives, the Lakas-CMD and the National Unity Party or NUP, <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/6/house-committee-report-on-vp-duterte-impeachment-furnished-to-members-2009">were said to back Duterte&#x27;s impeachment</a>. </p><p>And Bicol Saro party-list Rep. Terry Ridon, a member of the House Committee on Justice that unanimously found probable cause to impeach Duterte, said his consultations showed that <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/7/ridon-215-house-members-back-sara-duterte-impeachment-1452">around 215 House members </a>would <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/3/house-members-lawyer-confident-vp-duterte-impeachment-case-strong-to-proceed-1454">support the impeachment</a> of the Vice President. </p><p>That number is more than enough to impeach Duterte, as the 1987 Constitution only requires a one-third vote, or 106 affirmative votes for the current House, to trigger an impeachment trial at the Senate.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/9/adiong-sara-duterte-may-explain-p2-b-bank-glitch-in-impeachment-trial-1247">Adiong: Sara Duterte may explain P2-B bank ‘glitch’ in impeachment trial</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>SENATE TRIAL</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>With the looming impeachment of Duterte, the Senate will be again put to the test. </p><p>Days before today&#x27;s crucial vote at the House plenary, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson floated the possibility that his colleagues could <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/6/lacson-senate-may-not-convene-impeachment-court-1607">decide whether or not to convene </a>as an impeachment court.</p><p>However, some legal experts and House lawmakers have argued that the upper chamber <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/8/senate-has-no-choice-but-to-convene-as-impeachment-court-lawmakers-say-1915">has no other choice</a> but to tackle the impeachment case of Duterte.</p><p>Paolo Tamase, associate dean at the University of the Philippines College of Law, last week said that voting not to convene as an impeachment court was <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/7/senate-has-duty-to-take-up-possible-sara-duterte-impeachment-lawyers-say-1150">not an option provided for by the charter</a> to the Senate.</p><p>The Senate voting not to proceed with the impeachment trial &quot;opens up another opportunity for the Supreme Court to come in,&quot; Tamase warned, adding he was &quot;not too sure whether the impeachment will survive in its current form&quot; with how the court &quot;transformed&quot; the impeachment process.</p><p>Akbayan party-list Rep. Chel Diokno, who may be chosen as one of the prosecutors in Duterte&#x27;s trial, meanwhile said that the &quot;constitution is very clear that when the articles [of impeachment] arrive at the Senate, they must conduct a trial forthwith.&quot;</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>A &#x27;SUGGESTION&#x27; ONLY?</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>There are also views, the professor said, that the interpretation of the high court on the word &quot;forthwith&quot; referring to the initiation of an impeachment trial appeared to be <em>obiter dictum</em>, or a &quot;side comment&quot; or a &quot;suggestion&quot; only.</p><p>The Supreme Court, in a <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/4/29/supreme-court-says-forthwith-in-impeachment-cases-means-within-reasonable-time-1655">ruling</a> released late last month, said that &quot;forthwith&quot; means &quot;within a reasonable time, which may be longer or shorter, depending on the circumstances of each case.&quot;</p><p>It also said that while the constitution did not specify an exact date for the start of an impeachment trial, &quot;the Senate must avoid undue delay to uphold the principle that public officers must at all times be accountable to the people.&quot;</p><p>The constitution mandates the Senate, which has the sole power to try and decide all cases of impeachment, to &quot;forthwith proceed&quot; to a trial once the House transmits the complaints.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s important for the Senate to be in a position or to have that confidence and pride in the institution that they understand the importance of what they&#x27;re about to do,&quot; said Tamase, the law professor.</p><p>The Senate in 2025 convened as an impeachment court some four months after Duterte&#x27;s House impeachment that year, despite attempts by senators aligned with Duterte to stall the proceedings. </p><p>It decided matters related to the impeachment as an impeachment court, including returning the case to the House due to several issues. </p><p>The Supreme Court later ruled that<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2025/7/25/supreme-court-duterte-impeachment-articles-unconstitutional-1601"> the first impeachment violated a constitutional provision</a> banning more than one impeachment proceeding against an official in a year.</p><div><br/></div><div><strong>&#x27;TRIAL MAY TAKE SOME TIME&#x27;</strong></div><div><br/></div><p>Senate President Vicente Sotto III earlier this month <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw_9hoAw-bA">said</a> that while he planned to &quot;forthwith&quot; convene an impeachment court, the start of the &quot;trial proper may take some time&quot; because of preparations.</p><p>&quot;We will be sending the impeached official a copy of the articles of impeachment… We will ask the prosecution… their response and then we go into a pre-trial and then the trial proper after everything is all set. So that&#x27;s what the Supreme Court meant with &#x27;reasonable time,&#x27;&quot; Sotto said.</p><p>When asked to react to rumors of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqJCU61DBBY">another Senate coup</a> to block Duterte&#x27;s impeachment, San Juan City Rep. Ysabel Maria Zamora, vice chairperson of the House Committee on Justice, said that senators would be &quot;committing a grave abuse of their discretion&quot; and &quot;violating the constitution if they did so.&quot;</p><p>&quot;I hope that the senators will realize that it is also their duty to forthwith commence trial. We&#x27;ve gone through this discussion so many times and they don&#x27;t have the choice or the option to not go through trial,&quot; she told ANC on Monday.</p><p>Over the weekend, Manila City Rep. Joel Chua, a member of the House justice panel, said that the House plenary might transmit the articles of impeachment against Duterte this week.</p><p>Duterte&#x27;s lawyers have constantly said that they are <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/9/sara-duterte-defense-team-says-ready-for-house-vote-on-impeachment-case-1119">ready</a> for a possible impeachment trial at the Senate. </p><p>The Vice President last week also claimed that there was no single evidence to support the allegations against her, saying &quot;What&#x27;s really the story here? Is this [for] accountability or is this about removing a person who doesn&#x27;t agree with the administration?&quot;</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/7/facing-impeachment-threat-sara-duterte-says-she-is-not-known-to-be-vindictive-1206">Facing impeachment threat, Sara Duterte says she is not known to be ‘vindictive’</a></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEOS</strong></div><div><strong><br/><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/lFQ9PJmfi1I?&amp;pp=ygUlc2FyYSBkdXRlcnRlIGltcGVhY2htZW50IGFicyBjYm4gbmV3cw%3D%3D&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><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/th5Ht6s1pOw?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><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/9MGODDX6KeE?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div><div><strong><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/Nw_9hoAw-bA?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span></strong><br/></div>

<p>All 316 members of the House of Representatives are expected to meet today to cast their votes on the fate of the Vice President, who could be the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice.</p>

All 316 members of the House of Representatives are expected to meet today to cast their votes on the fate of the Vice President, who could be the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice.

As Sara Duterte faces new House impeachment, Senate is again put to the test

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As Sara Duterte faces new House impeachment, Senate is again put to the test

Rowegie Abanto,

ABS-CBN News

Published May 11, 2026 08:00 AM PHT

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Updated May 11, 2026 11:11 AM PHT

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House of Representatives

Impeachment

Sara Duterte

Sara Duterte Impeachment

House Plenary

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