The House of Representatives (HOR) has officially referred the four impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte to its Committee on Justice, initiating investigations into alleged grave violations that may finally remove her from office.
The HOR Committee on Rules formally sent the four raps against Duterte to the justice panel as Monday’s plenary session included the complaints in the Order of Business.
The justice committee will then determine the complaints’ sufficiency in form and substance that are necessary in the decision whether to impeach President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s former ally, now his bitter political enemy.
It is the second time in as many years that Duterte is facing impeachment proceedings before the HOR that decided the vice president should face an impeachment trial before the Senate last year.
She avoided a full trial however as Senate allies stonewalled the proceedings and the Supreme Court decided the HOR committed procedural violations in their haste to impeach the vice president.
Duterte’s supposed impeachment trial in the Senate triggered a leadership shakeup in the chamber that is seen as a setback to her efforts to escape permanent expulsion from an elective post.
Last week, Duterte announced her bid for the presidency in the Philippines’ 2028 national elections.
The impending deliberations for her impeachment by the HOR came as her father, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, faced confirmation of charges at the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
The parallel development last Monday is seen by Duterte supporters as a twin-barreled offensive from posing any serious political threat against the Marcoses and eliminate them from seriously figuring in national politics ever again.
The final Marcos-Duterte break came after the vice president declared contracting an assassin to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta and former HOR speaker and presidential cousin Ferdinand Martin Romualdez in 2024.
The HOR justice committee has 60 session days to decide on the impeachment complaints’ sufficiency in form and substance. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)