In December 2024, four impeachment complaints were formally filed against Sara Duterte, the 15th vice president of the Philippines, who was serving under President Bongbong Marcos. The fourth complaint was approved by the House of Representatives on February 5, 2025, paving the way for an impeachment trial in the Senate.
The Senate convened months later, despite calls from impeachment proponents for the trial to begin immediately. On June 10, 2025, the Senate remanded the articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives.
On July 25, 2025, the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment complaint against Duterte was unconstitutional, barring any new impeachment complaint against her until February 6, 2026. The Court also ruled that the Senate could not acquire jurisdiction over the case and that no impeachment trial would proceed. However, the Court maintained that it was not absolving Duterte of the allegations against her.
Duterte became the first vice president of the Philippines to be impeached, although she remained in office because the Senate did not render a final verdict.
Background Relationship between Marcos and Duterte
Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte were elected as president and vice president, respectively, in the 2022 Philippine election as part of the UniTeam alliance.
Duterte was appointed as Marcos's first secretary of education after they both took office in mid-2022, although she preferred to be secretary of defense. Over the next two years, Duterte's relationship with Marcos's allies deteriorated, particularly with House Speaker Martin Romualdez and First Lady Liza Araneta. She resigned in May 2023 from Lakas–CMD where she served as chairperson. Lakas is part of the ruling coalition. In January 2024, President Marcos insisted that the UniTeam is still "vibrant", referring to his working relationship with his deputy. Duterte tendered her resignation from her position as education secretary in June 2024. When asked about her friendship with Marcos in September 2024, she said they were never friends and merely running mates in the 2022 elections. Marcos responded by saying he was "deceived" about their supposed friendship. In October 2024, she detailed her fallout with Marcos, who she said "does not know how to be president".
Assassination threat
During a midnight press conference on November 22, 2024, initiated by Zuleika T. Lopez, Duterte claimed to have spoken with a contract killer to target President Marcos, his wife Liza, and House Speaker Romualdez in the event of her assassination, which the administration deemed an "active threat" against the government. She made the statement in response to a vlogger's question over her security. At the time, Duterte had been resisting the transfer of Lopez by House authorities to the Correctional Institution for Women. Duterte later clarified that her remarks were not serious threats but rather a reflection of her fear for her personal safety after hearing threats against her.
On November 29, Marcos confirmed that he had directed the House of Representatives to refrain from filing an impeachment motion against Sara Duterte. This is despite his rift with Duterte which he described as "a storm in a teacup" and maintained that any potential effort to impeach his deputy would be a waste of time that it "does not make a difference to even one single Filipino life".
Confidential funds controversy
South China Sea
Prior impeachment plans The Makabayan bloc considered filing an impeachment case against Duterte back in August 2023 over alleged misuse of confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President for 2022, which ACT Teachers representative France Castro from the Makabayan bloc described as an "impeachable offense". Castro later judged the plan as "premature", citing the need to continue with the House investigation.
In August 2024, Sara Duterte said she expects an impeachment case to be filed against her following her fallout with the president and information she heard from allies within the lower house. In September 2024, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan described the impeachment of Duterte as necessary over her use of confidential funds in 2022 and 2023. In the same month, the House of Representatives denied any plot to file an impeachment complaint.
Complaints December 2024 complaints On December 2, 2024, the first formal impeachment case was lodged against Vice President Sara Duterte. The complaint listed 24 articles which was categorized in four points: graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes. Aside from corruption, other cited reasons include her alleged role in the extrajudicial killings of the drug suspects and failure to make a stance against China's aggressive sovereignty claims in the dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea dispute).
The second impeachment complaint against Duterte was filed on December 4, 2024, by 70 activists led by the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan. They cited a single reason which is betrayal of public trust over the illegal use and mishandling of confidential funds. Duterte is accused of committing "gross abuse of discretionary powers" over the confidential funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education.
On December 5, 2024, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco disclosed that a third complaint by select members of the House of Representatives was being prepared. The complaint was filed by a group of religious workers, lawyers and civil society workers in the House of Representatives against Duterte on December 19 for betrayal of public trust.
Fourth impeachment complaint
On February 5, 2025, 215 members of the House of Representatives signed an impeachment complaint against Duterte on charges that include corruption, plotting to assassinate President Bongbong Marcos, involvement in extrajudicial killings and incitement to insurrection and public disorder. The impeachment complaint attained more than the minimum 102 signatures, or a third of the House of Representatives as required in the Constitution. With the signature threshold reached, the impeachment complaint constitutes as the formal Articles of Impeachment against Duterte and was transmitted to the Senate without a plenary vote. This marks the fourth complaint filed against Duterte. On February 7, House Secretary General Reginald Velasco said that an additional 25 lawmakers had signed documents adding their names in support of the impeachment complaint, putting the total number of signees to 240.
Among the signatories of the impeachment complaint was President Marcos's son, Ilocos Norte representative Sandro Marcos, and Speaker Romualdez. At least 101 lawmakers from Luzon and 40 from the Visayas also signed the complaint. In Duterte's home island of Mindanao, 41 of its 60 district representatives supported impeachment. However, in her native Davao Region, only Davao del Sur representative John Tracy Cagas signed the complaint out a total of 11 district representatives. Thirty-three of 61 party-list representatives also supported impeachment.
Articles of Impeachment These are the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte:
The third article concerns the allegation that Duterte bribed high ranking Department of Education officials while the fifth article involves her linkage to extrajudicial killings which happened during her father and former president Rodrigo Duterte's war on drugs, including the Davao Death Squad. # Case Violation 1 Contracting an assassin and plotting to murder or assassinate the incumbent president, the first lady, and Former speaker of the House of Representatives, as publicly admitted by her in a live broadcast. Betrayal of public trustCulpable violation of the constitutionOther high crimes 2 Misuse and malversation of confidential funds appropriated to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and the Department of Education (DepEd) Betrayal of public trustGraft and corruption 3 In Violation of Republic Act No. 3019 Betrayal of public trustBriberyGraft and corruption 4 Amassing unexplained wealth and failing to disclose all her properties and interests in properties in her statement of assets and net worth (SALN), in Violation of Section 17, Article XI of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Culpable violation of the constitutionBetrayal of public trust 5 High crime of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Other high crimes 6 By herself and/or in concert with others, committed acts of destabilization and sedition and insurrection. Betrayal of public trustOther high crimes 7 Totality of Respondent's conduct as Vice-President, including her commission of the foregoing acts Betrayal of public trustCulpable violation of the constitutionGraft and corruption
Signatories
A total of 215 lawmakers signed the impeachment complaint against vice president Sara Duterte on February 5, 2025. Sandro Marcos (Ilocos Norte–1st), who is also the son of President Bongbong Marcos, was the first to affix his signature; House Speaker Martin Romualdez was the last. It was noted that 41 out of 60 lawmakers from Mindanao voted to impeach Sara Duterte. In the Duterte family's home region of Davao, only John Tracy Cagas (Davao del Sur) was in favor of the vice president's impeachment.
On the following day, 25 more legislators who were previously not physically present affixed their signatures.