Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte Impeached Again

The House of Representatives of the Philippines has voted to impeach Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte for a second time, escalating a deepening political conflict that could threaten her chances of running for president in 2028.

Monday’s vote now sends the impeachment case to the Senate of the Philippines, where senators will decide whether Duterte should be convicted and removed from office.

If found guilty, the 47-year-old daughter of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte would also be barred from holding public office in the future.

Sara Duterte is currently considered one of the leading early contenders to succeed President Ferdinand Marcos Jr in the next presidential election, despite an increasingly bitter fallout between the former allies.

The impeachment complaint centres on allegations that Duterte misused public funds and made public threats against Marcos, his wife and his cousin, a former House speaker.

The vice-president had previously been impeached in 2025 over the same accusations, but the Supreme Court of the Philippines halted the process on technical grounds before a Senate trial could begin.

The case resurfaced this year after a House committee reviewing the allegations concluded there were sufficient grounds to proceed with impeachment.

Duterte has strongly denied wrongdoing and dismissed the proceedings as politically motivated.

In a formal written response, she described the impeachment case as “nothing more than a scrap of paper” and declined to attend committee hearings examining the accusations.

Following Monday’s vote, Duterte’s legal team said the responsibility now lies with her accusers to prove their allegations in accordance with the law.

“The burden now rests on the accusers to substantiate their claims,” her defence counsel said in a statement.

A total of 257 out of 290 lawmakers present voted in favour of impeachment, comfortably surpassing the one-third threshold required to send the case to the Senate.

Political analysts say the vote highlighted the strength of Marcos’ influence within the House of Representatives, where lawmakers are often aligned with the sitting president in the Philippines’ patronage-driven political system.

However, Duterte’s fate in the Senate remains uncertain.

Unlike House members, Philippine senators are elected nationwide and are generally viewed as more politically independent because many harbour presidential or vice-presidential ambitions of their own.

The Senate has historically served as a launching platform for future national candidates, making the outcome of any impeachment trial difficult to predict.