The decision came hours after senators were sworn in as judges in the impending impeachment trial against the vice president.
The Philippine Senate voted yesterday to return an impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte to the lower house to clarify its constitutionality, shortly after initiating an impeachment trial that threatens to end her political career.
After a failed attempt by a close Duterte ally to dismiss the case, the senators agreed to send the impeachment complaint back to the House to verify that its handling of the process was legal. The motion, introduced by Senator Alan Peter Cayetano, an ally of Duterte, was supported by 18 senators, including Senate President Chiz Escudero, and opposed by five.
Duterte was impeached by the House in February for “violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.” These include alleged corruption, involvement in extrajudicial killings, and a threat to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and his cousin, who is also the speaker of the House of Representatives.
The impeachment drama has grown out of the bitter feud between Duterte and Marcos, who teamed up to great political effect ahead of the 2022 presidential election. The feud, which has dominated the past year of national politics in the Philippines, has also roped in Sara Duterte’s father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who was arrested by Philippine police in March and extradited to the International Criminal Court to face charges related to his bloody “war on drugs.”
The vote took place late last night, after the senators, including 12 newly elected in midterm elections on May 12, took their oaths as judges and convened as an impeachment court for Duterte’s upcoming trial. Prior to the swearing-in, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, a close ally of the Dutertes who helped lead the drug war during Duterte Sr.’s time in office, moved to dismiss the impeachment case due to “serious concerns” about the articles of impeachment. In his privilege speech before senators were sworn in as impeachment judges, Dela Rosa alleged that the “foundation” of the articles of impeachment against the vice president was “constitutionally unsound.”
After the failure of the motion, Cayetano subsequently advanced a separate motion to return the articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives “without dismissing or terminating the case” until the lower house could certify that it had handled the case according to the proper constitutional procedure. According to a report by the Philippine News Agency, Cayetano presented the motion as “a compromise to preserve constitutional integrity without prematurely terminating the case.”
Senators have also issued a summons to Sara Duterte, who is currently outside the country, to respond to the charges. Late yesterday, Duterte’s office told Reuters she was ready to “expose the baselessness of the accusations.” It said that the impeachment process “must never be weaponized to harass, silence, or eliminate political opponents.”
It is unclear what impact the Senate’s decision will have on Duterte’s impeachment trial. While it buys the vice president additional time to convince senators to vote against her impeachment, which could see her banned from holding elected office for life, the House is dominated by allies of Marcos and is unlikely to heed Dela Rosa’s technical arguments in support of a dismissal. However, by dragging out the process, it seems set to intensify the polarization that has become the hallmark of Marcos’ term in office, and to ensure that the Marcos-Duterte feud continues to consume the available political oxygen in the Philippines for the foreseeable future.