Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte says that she plans to fight to clear her name during her upcoming impeachment trial while airing a possible run for the presidency in 2028.
At a press conference on Friday, Duterte said that she was innocent of the accusations made against her in the articles of impeachment passed by 215 of the House’s 306 members on February 5.
“The legal team is still preparing the defense and (deciding) what we will do moving forward,” she said, as per news reports, urging her supporters to “have faith” that she will emerge victorious. She said that her impeachment by the House was “more painful to be left behind by a boyfriend or girlfriend.”
“In the past few days many have asked for my reaction or comment and how I feel about the issue of my impeachment,” Duterte added, as per BenarNews. “The only thing I can say at this point is: God save the Philippines.”
The press conference marked Duterte’s first public comments since last week’s impeachment resolution, which accused the 46-year-old of “violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.” While the exact details of the impeachment remain unclear, the vice president is currently the subject of a House investigation into her alleged misuse of more than 612.5 million pesos ($10.5 million) of confidential and intelligence funds, both as vice president and education secretary. She has also been accused of involvement in extrajudicial killings in Davao, where she previously served as mayor, and – most explosively –making an alleged threat to the life of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The impeachment vote marked the culmination of 18 months of steadily increasing tension between Duterte and Marcos, her former ally, with whom she won a thundering victory in the 2022 presidential election. Almost immediately, however, cracks formed in the façade of the Marcos-Duterte “Uniteam,” which widened into fissures last year over a range of personal and political differences.
In June of last year, Duterte resigned from Marcos’s cabinet (she had served as education secretary), saying that she felt “used” by the president and his allies. The tensions intensified further when the House, controlled by Marcos’ cousin, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, initiated an investigation into her alleged misuse of government funds. After her chief of staff was detained on accusations of hampering the inquiry, Duterte said that her life was under threat and made the sensational claim that she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, along with his wife and Romualdez, in the event of her own assassination. She has since denied planning to kill the president, saying that the scenario she discussed was merely hypothetical – a position she restated in Friday’s press conference.
Duterte also said that she was “seriously considering” a presidential run in 2028, but that it was “difficult to decide without the numbers.”
With the Senate now set to convene for an impeachment trial at an undetermined date – the chamber is on recess until June, but has the power to reconvene before then – Duterte added that it was “too far off” to entertain the idea of resigning, which would allow her to avoid a possible conviction and preserve her ability to run for elected office in future. The votes of two-thirds of the Philippines’ 24 senators are required to impeach any official, meaning that Duterte needs to win over nine to her side to avoid being removed from her post.
The press conference sends a strong message that Duterte, never marked by much capacity for self-reflection or self-criticism, plans to fight the impeachment to the bitter end, whatever her various misdemeanors. This also all but ensures that the Marcos-Duterte fight will continue to dominate the country’s political life, and the mid-term elections scheduled in May, to the detriment of more pressing domestic issues.
Indeed, a fiery impeachment trial could well provide the political springboard that Duterte needs to launch her assault on the presidency in three years – an assault that, if successful, would give her an opportunity to enact revenge on her opponents.