For the second time in 15 months, the House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, May 11, with more congressmen wanting to see her stand trial in the Senate.
A total of 255 lawmakers voted to approve the report of the Committee on Justice, finding probable cause in the consolidated impeachment complaints, surpassing the required one-third threshold of 106 votes. Twenty-six House members voted against impeachment while nine abstained.
The total 255 affirmative votes exceeded the 215 House members who signed Duterte’s impeachment in February 2025, which was blocked by the Supreme Court on a technicality before the Senate could begin trial. The vice president has become the first Philippine official to be impeached twice. The complaint alleges misuse of P125 million confidential funds and P7 billion in unliquidated cash advances and submitting questionable liquidation documents when she was education secretary, threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House speaker Martin Romualdez, and accumulating unexplained wealth.
It is, however, uncertain if the Senate would promptly convene as an impeachment court to conduct trial once the House transmits the Articles of Impeachment in view of a coup that led to the installation of senators perceived as pro-Duterte into leadership positions.
While the House was voting on the Articles of Impeachment, the Senate voted 13-9 with two abstentions to install Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano as the new Senate president, replacing Sen. Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who had promised to begin trial “forthwith.”
Duterte’s impeachment has been widely seen as a move to derail her plan to run for president in 2028. A conviction by the Senate as an impeachment court would disqualify her from seeding the country’s top post.
Photos and video by Bullit Marquez for VERA Files