Philippines Vice President Duterte faces impeachment complaint after she threatens president

MANILA – An impeachment complaint was filed Monday against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, who has faced a legal storm over death threat she railed against the president and her alleged role in extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, corruption and failure to confront Chinese aggression in the disputed South China Sea.

The impeachment petition filed by several prominent civil society activists in the House of Representatives accuses Duterte of violating the country’s Constitution, betraying the public trust and other “serious crimes,” including the death threats she made against the president, his wife and the speaker of the House of Representatives.

Duterte did not immediately respond to the impeachment motion, which has accused her of nearly two dozen alleged crimes.

“We hope that with this complaint we can put an end to the nightmare that our vice president has brought to the people,” said Congressman Percival Sendana, who gave the necessary approval to the complaint.

The vice president’s threats showed “the degree of respondent’s mental incapacity, her depravity and her lack of mental capacity to continue in the high office of vice president of the Philippines,” according to a copy of the complaint seen by The Associated Press. “This is not only a betrayal of public trust, but also a grave crime that justifies her immediate removal from office.”

Duterte’s lawyer, 46, was also accused in the complaint of having unexplained wealth and allowing the extrajudicial killings of drug suspects started by her father, a former mayor of the southern city of Davao, to continue when she held the position in the past.

Vice President legal problems unfolded against the backdrop of her increasingly bitter political feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and his allies. She said during an online press conference on November 23 that she had hired an assassin to kill Marcos, his wife and Speaker Martin Romualdez if she was killed. The threat she warned about was no joke.

She later said she did not threaten him, but expressed concern for her own safety.

The impeachment complaint will be scrutinized by the Philippine Congress, which is dominated by allies of Marcos and his cousin and major sponsor Romualdez, who has also had political differences with the vice president.

The process can take weeks or months. Congress is scheduled to begin its Christmas recess on Dec. 20 and resume on Jan. 13. Many lawmakers will then begin campaigning for re-election before the May 12 midterm elections.

The House is investigating the alleged misuse of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3 million) in confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary. Since then, she has left her educational position.

She declined to answer questions in detail during the tense televised hearing. Duterte also protested strongly when her chief of staff, Zuleika Lopez, was temporarily detained for allegedly obstructing an investigation. Lopez was released from the hospital.

Philippine police filed criminal complaints against Duterte and her security personnel for allegedly assaulting authorities and disobeying orders during a row in Congress over Lopez’s detention.

Duterte accused Marcos, his wife and Romualdez of corruption, weak leadership and trying to silence her over speculation that she might run for president in 2028.

National Bureau of Investigation summoned to court Duterte will meet with investigators regarding her threats against them.

The police, military and national security adviser immediately stepped up security for the Marcoses after the threats.

The president said impeaching Duterte was a waste of time while the country dealt with other issues, but her opponents said they would continue to promote accountability and the rule of law.

Marcos and Duterte won a landslide victory as running mate in the 2022 election, but have since fallen out over key differences. Both offices are separately elected in the Philippines, which has resulted in rivals holding the highest political office in the country.

Marcos and Duterte differ in their approaches to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea and their views on deadly fight against drugs hosted by Duterte’s father, Rodrigo Duterte, who was the previous president as well as the ex-mayor of Davao.

Complainants in the impeachment, including former military officers from a group called Magdalo, accused her of refusing to condemn Chinese aggression against Philippine forces in the South China Sea. Complainants did not refer to China by name.

The brutal drug operation has killed thousands of mostly poor suspects in killings, mostly by police, that are being investigated by the International Criminal Court as possible crimes against humanity.

The impeachment complaint quotes a key witness to the killings, former police officer Arturo Lascanas, as saying that Sara Duterte allowed extrajudicial killings of drug suspects to continue in Davao City while she was its mayor. Her father started the fight against drugs when he was mayor.

___

Associated Press reporters Aaron Favila and Joel Calupitan contributed to this report.