VP Duterte faces 3rd impeachment bid

Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio faced a third impeachment complaint on Monday from religious and civil society groups over allegations that include graft, corruption and plunder. 

The complaint filed at the House of Representatives centers on claims that Ms. Duterte misused confidential and intelligence funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President and Department of Education, violating the Constitution and betraying public trust. 

“It remains the moral obligation of Congress to impeach and remove her from office once and for all,” Amando Virgil D. Ligutan, lawyer for the complainants, told reporters after the filing. Party-list Rep. Leila M. de Lima endorsed the complaint. 

The Office of the Vice President did not immediately reply to a Viber message seeking comment. Ms. Duterte has denied wrongdoing. 

The 98-page filing accused the Vice President of plunder over the misuse of P500 million in confidential funds allotted to her office from 2022 to 2023, as well as P112.5 million earmarked for the Education department during her tenure as secretary. 

“In truth, the confidential funds went to the Vice President’s people — not confidential operatives but co-conspirators in malversation,” according to a copy of the complaint. 

The complainants also accuses her of enriching herself illegally, claiming her declared income as a former mayor and vice mayor could not explain the hundreds of millions of pesos allegedly found in her bank accounts. They also accused her of bribery linked to government contracts and of threatening to kill President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., the First Lady and former Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez, the President’s cousin. 

The latest complaint adds to mounting pressure on Ms. Duterte amid calls for greater transparency over the use of confidential and intelligence funds, said Ederson DT. Tapia, a political science professor at the University of Makati. 

The accusations may reinforce the narrative already raised in earlier impeachment complaints, he said, noting that repeated filings could keep the issue alive in the public arena even if prospects for conviction remain uncertain. 

The filing comes as the House of Representatives has wrapped up deliberations on impeachment complaints against President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., Ms. Duterte’s political rival. 

While a plenary vote is still required in the Marcos case, the odds of overturning a panel’s dismissal are seen as slim, with the chamber dominated by allies of the President and requiring at least 106 votes. 

The twin impeachment efforts could deepen political fault lines between allies of Mr. Marcos in the House and Ms. Duterte, who is widely seen as a potential contender in the 2028 presidential election. 

Activists and civil society groups filed separate impeachment complaints against the Vice President last week, reviving efforts to remove her from office over similar corruption allegations. 

Ms. Duterte was impeached by the House last year after more than a third of lawmakers backed a fourth complaint that was quickly sent  to the Senate. She later secured a Supreme Court ruling voiding the proceedings, with the high court saying lawmakers violated constitutional rules by bypassing earlier complaints. — Kenneth Christian L. Basilio