(UPDATE) CIVIL society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition filed impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, restarting a process sidelined by the country’s Supreme Court last year.
Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as Education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The complaints allege culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
“The Supreme Court itself stated that their ruling does not absolve VP Sara Duterte of the charges. By filing this complaint, we hope to finally get a verdict on the charges against her,” Kiko Aquino Dee, co-convenor of Tindig Pilipinas, said.
The complaint stemmed from the alleged misuse and alleged malversation of confidential funds as vice president and also during her time as secretary of the Department of Education.
The civil society complainants alleged that Duterte “gravely betrayed” public trust “and revealed herself to be unfit to discharge the trust reposed upon her office in handling public funds.” “This has been shown not only by her misuse... of confidential funds, but also by her repeated attempts to conceal and suppress relevant information and documents on her fraudulent liquidations of how the confidential funds were spent,” the complainants said.
An impeachment complaint endorsed by the Makabayan bloc of the House was also filed on Monday against Duterte. The complaint — filed by former lawmakers France Castro and Arlene Brosas, among others — alleged betrayal of public trust in connection with confidential funds.
The filings came on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos.
Under the Constitution, an impeachment by the House triggers a Senate trial, where a guilty verdict means expulsion from office and a lifetime ban on political service.
Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, is widely considered a potential presidential candidate in 2028.
“It’s about time that VP Sara must be held accountable,” Rep. Leila de Lima, who endorsed one of the fresh complaints, said Monday.
“The complaint basically... raises the same grounds as the previous complaint, just much condensed and streamlined.” Key to both filings on Monday are allegations surrounding about $10 million in unexplained spending while Duterte was Education secretary.
Duterte was impeached by the House last year on similar charges brought by a group backed by de Lima and other lawmakers.
In addition to questions over her spending, that complaint alleged that she had made an assassination threat against the president during a late-night press briefing, charges she has denied.
An abortive Senate trial that followed saw the senior body kick the case back to the House while questioning its constitutionality.
The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that the impeachment was a violation of a constitutional rule against multiple complaints being filed in the same year.
The court upheld its ruling last week.
In a statement, lawyers for the vice president said they were confident the accusations would be proven baseless.
“We are prepared to confront these allegations squarely through the proper constitutional processes, confident that a fair and impartial review will demonstrate that the accusations are devoid of both factual and legal basis,” lawyer Michael Poa, speaking for Duterte’s defense team, said.
The House justice committee began hearings over the Marcos complaints on Monday.
Outside, a group of about 100 protesters gathered by the left-wing Makabayan bloc held aloft banners calling for the ouster of both Marcos and Duterte.
“We are protesting... to remind the lawmakers that their loyalty should be to the people, not to their political patron, not to their political dynasty, not to the president,” Raymond Palatino, 46, said.
WITH AFP