Power tussle grips Philippine Congress amid move to impeach VP Sara Duterte

Mindanao, Philippines — Supporters of Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte have wrested control of the country’s Senate, throwing into question a bid to impeach her that was — until now — widely expected to pass through Congress.

Senator Alan Cayetano, a former foreign secretary during the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte — Sara’s father, and the country’s head of state from 2016 to 2022 — has been elected as Senate President.

The appointment came even as the Philippine House of Representatives was poised to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time.

The impeachment vote against Duterte, scheduled for Monday, is the latest episode in the ongoing political feud between the Duterte family and incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, plunging the country into deeper political turmoil, even as it faces serious economic uncertainty due to the global energy crisis.

The charges against Duterte include two violations of the constitution and betrayal of public trust for misuse of confidential government funds, failure to disclose her wealth, bribery and in relation to the death threats against Marcos, his wife Liza Araneta and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

One of the most damning allegations in the complaint against the vice president includes private bank transactions flagged by the anti-money laundering agency of more than $110m.

“The scale of these transactions cannot be reasonably explained by lawful income, declared assets, or the businesses and professional activities attributed to the couple,” Terry Ridon, another House member and one of the main complainants, said in a statement posted on X on Monday.

“Today’s vote is therefore not merely a political exercise. It is a constitutional act of accountability.”

The House wants the Senate to declare Duterte “guilty” on all four articles of impeachment, seeks her removal as vice president and her “perpetual disqualification from holding any office” in government.

The impeachment requires a third of the votes from the House for approval to be sent to the Senate for trial.

The vote threshold had already been reached as of May 7, a member of the House from Mindanao, Duterte’s stronghold, told Al Jazeera.

The legislator, who asked not to be named, said the final number of votes could be close to the first time Duterte was impeached, adding they intended to vote in favour of the impeachment.

A previous impeachment motion against Duterte was passed in 2025 — it received 215 votes in a House of 313 members, not just well above the one-third needed, but more than two-thirds of the representatives. However, that impeachment was later voided by the Supreme Court over technical questions.

But even if the House impeaches Duterte, a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate is required to convict her and remove her from office — a scenario that is now far from certain, with Cayetano’s elevation as the chamber’s head.

Duterte and Marcos ran as a team in 2022, but their political alliance later unravelled, leading to their bitter split and the arrest of the elder Duterte by the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and now the impeachment of the vice president, who has already declared her intention to run in the 2028 presidential race.

Last week, members of the House Committee on Justice voted unanimously, 53-0, to find probable cause to impeach Duterte, and endorse the complaint for debate in the House.

On May 7, Duterte said whatever the outcome of the impeachment “is written by God”.

“Based on our discussion earlier with [former] President Duterte, everything that happens in a person’s life is written by God. So, if I am impeached, that is written by God. If I am not impeached, see you tomorrow, Duterte told supporters after visiting her father in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 6.