Philippine Vice President, Sara Dutetre is now facing impeachment proceedings, after being accused of a plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos.
Dutetre is also at risk of losing her position as the second in command over allegations of high-profile crimes including, corruption, culpable betrayal of trust, and failure to denounce China’s aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea.
According to House of Representatives Secretary-General, Reginald Velasco, the 215 legislators filed the impeachment complaint in the lower house, significantly required number to rapidly send the petition to the Senate for further trial.
Among the signatories of the impeachment complaint were the president’s son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and Romualdez. The Thursday petition urged the Senate to shift itself into an impeachment court to try the vice president, “render a judgment of conviction,” remove her from office, and ban her from holding public office.
“Duterte’s conduct throughout her tenure displays gross faithlessness against public trust and a tyrannical abuse of power that, taken together, showcases her gross unfitness to hold public office and her infidelity to the laws and the 1987 Constitution,” the complaint said.
“Her sheer evasiveness and silence on the West Philippine Sea issue, an issue that strikes at the core of Philippine sovereignty, is opposed to her being so loquacious as to other issues,” it added.
The petition against the vice president focused on a death threat she made against the president, his wife, and the House speaker last year, irregularities in the use of her office’s intelligence funds, among others.
She said in an online news conference on Nov. 23 that she had contracted an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife, and Romualdez if she were killed, a threat she warned wasn’t a joke.
Duterte later said that she wasn’t threatening him, but was expressing concern for her own safety. However, her statements set off an investigation and national security concerns.
Allegations of graft and corruption against her also emanated from a months long and televised House investigation on the alleged misuse of 612.5 million pesos ($10.5 million) of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary.
She has also been accused of unexplained wealth and failure to declare her wealth as required by the law.
Meanwhile, Duterte didn’t immediately comment on her impeachment, but her brother, Paolo Duterte, said it was “a clear act of political persecution.” Rival lawmakers maneuvered to quickly collect signatures and push a “baseless impeachment case” to the Senate,” he said.
