MANILA: The Philippine Senate will convene as an impeachment court on May 18 ahead of the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, its president said on Thursday, with tensions flaring as the country’s most powerful political clans face off.
With former ally-turned-enemy President Ferdinand Marcos Jr limited by the constitution to a single term in office, Duterte has been the clear favorite to succeed him in 2028, but she faces a ban from holding office and removal from her post if convicted.
The 24-member upper house will convene as a court on Monday to go over rules and procedures ahead of the start of a trial, which will take place at a date yet to be determined, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano said, reading aloud a letter to his lower house counterpart.
The trial of Duterte, 47, will be a theater for a fierce and long-running political battle in the Philippines, pitting allies of the vice president against loyalists of Marcos, 68, with whom she had a major fallout.
Duterte was accused in an impeachment complaint of misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth and threatening the lives of Marcos, his wife and the former House speaker, which she denies.
The announced came a day after the heavily guarded Senate was engulfed in chaos, with gunshots fired and tensions boiling over after a pro-Duterte senator taking refuge inside told supporters he was about to be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Open warfare
The complaint against Duterte by activists, religious groups and lawyers was backed overwhelmingly by the lower house on Monday. Her lawyers have described the impeachment as a “fishing expedition.”
Duterte is furious at Marcos after his congressional allies dragged her through months of probes into alleged financial irregularities in her office. The two have repeatedly traded barbs in public, and the breakdown even led Marcos to hand her father and his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte over to the ICC last year to face trial on the charge of murder as a crime against humanity during his bloody “war on drugs.”
Marcos has distanced himself from her impeachment, calling it a matter for the legislative branch.
Sara Duterte has been at The Hague this week visiting her father and said her legal team was preparing her defense.
She blamed the political turbulence squarely on Marcos, better known in the Philippines as “Bongbong.” She accused him of wasting government resources on trying to “demolish political opposition.”
“Our country is in turmoil, which should not be the case. We are only in turmoil because of Bongbong Marcos,” she said in remarks shared by her office.
