The lower house in the Philippines impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Wednesday, reports the AP, accusing her of a wide range of crimes that include plotting to assassinate the president, large-scale corruption, and failing to strongly denounce China's aggressive actions against Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea. The move by legislators in the House of Representatives, many of them allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., deepens a bitter political rift that involved the two highest leaders of one of Asia's most rambunctious democracies. Marcos has boosted defense ties with his country's treaty ally, the United States, while the vice president's father, Rodrigo Duterte, nurtured cozy relations with China and Russia during his stormy term that ended in 2022.
At least 215 legislators in the lower house signed the impeachment complaint, significantly more than the required number to send it rapidly to the Senate, which would serve as a tribunal to try the vice president. Among the signatories was the president's son, Rep. Sandro Marcos, and cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez. The 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 clearly 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. The vice president's brother, Rep. Paolo Duterte, said that the move was "a clear act of political persecution." The vice president is regarded as a possible presidential contender after Marcos' six-year term ends in 2028.
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