The third attack against the nation’s vice president in less than a week came on Monday when members of the Philippine church filed an impeachment case against Sara Duterte.
Last year, the House of Representatives impeached former President Rodrigo Duterte’s daughter, but the Supreme Court of the nation dismissed the case due to procedural concerns.
A Senate trial is triggered by an impeachment under the Philippine constitution. If found guilty, Duterte would be disqualified from politics and would not be able to compete for president in 2028.
In the petition on Monday, some of the same people who filed the first case accuse Duterte of defrauding taxpayers of at least $10 million during his tenure as secretary of education and vice president.
One of the complainants, Reverend Joselito Sarabia, a Catholic friar, told reporters outside the House complex, “This is not political, we are not politicians.”
“We think there’s a moral issue. He added that it was time for Duterte to “answer all accusations,” which is why they were back.
A purported death threat against President Ferdinand Marcos during a late-night press briefing is also mentioned in the lawsuit; Duterte has since claimed that the threat was misunderstood.
The complaint was backed by Representative Leila de Lima, who described it as a “improved version of the articles of impeachment” that had previously been provided and expressed confidence that it would go to a House vote.
Due to drug allegations that rights organizations claim were overruled by the vice president’s father, De Lima was imprisoned for more than six years.
Members of a left-wing alliance and leaders of Philippine civil society submitted similar impeachment petitions against Duterte last week.
Days before a House justice committee rejected two impeachment allegations against President Marcos, stating they lacked the substance needed to proceed, they were submitted.
According to analysts who talked to AFP, considering the president’s popularity among House legislators, the attempt to unseat him had little chance of success.
Within weeks of their joint landslide victory in the 2022 presidential election, Marcos and Duterte, who were formerly comrades, began a high-stakes political feud.
Many Duterte supporters think Marcos orchestrated Rodrigo Duterte’s detention and subsequent extradition to the Netherlands’ International Criminal Court to stand trial for murders committed during a violent drug war.
