Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has petitioned the Supreme Court to invalidate an impeachment complaint filed against her, marking her initial legal action in response to a case that could potentially result in her removal from office and a lifetime prohibition from holding public positions.
On February 5, the lower house voted to impeach Duterte, citing allegations that include budget irregularities, the accumulation of unexplained wealth, and purported threats to the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the First Lady, and the House Speaker.
As the daughter of the nation’s controversial former leader, Duterte is regarded as a formidable contender for the 2028 presidential election.
She has consistently refuted any allegations of misconduct, asserting that the impeachment effort, occurring amid a significant rift with Marcos, is driven by political motives.
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In a petition submitted to the Supreme Court, Duterte alleged that the lower house exhibited “grave abuse of discretion” by “deliberately circumventing” a constitutional protection that prevents multiple impeachment proceedings against the same official within a single year.
“This political maneuver undermined constitutional standards … with the primary objective of ensuring that the petitioner remains permanently disqualified from seeking any national elective position,” she stated in the petition filed on Tuesday.
Duterte further requested that the court intervene to prevent the upper house from moving forward with the impeachment trial, which the Senate president has previously suggested could commence in June, following the mid-term elections in May.
The 24 senators in the upper chamber will act as jurors in the impeachment trial that may result in Duterte’s ousting from office and a permanent disqualification from holding public positions, effectively extinguishing any aspirations he may have for the presidency.
House Speaker Martin Romualdez did not provide an immediate response to a request for comment. However, in a statement released on Wednesday, House leaders characterized Duterte’s actions as “desperate” attempts to “evade accountability.”
