Philippine groups seek impeachment of Vice President Duterte
World
Philippine groups seek impeachment of Vice President Duterte
MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine civil society and religious leaders asked Congress on Monday to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte over a list of complaints that include graft, incompetence and amassing ill-gotten wealth while in office.
The daughter of firebrand former President Rodrigo Duterte has been embroiled in a row with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and is the subject of an inquiry into her spending by the House of Representatives. She denies wrongdoing.
Monday's complainants included civil society and religious leaders, as well as former government officials critical of her father.
They include priest Flaviano Villanueva, who runs a support group for families of victims of the drug war, former congressman Gary Alejano who represents military veterans and their families, and singer-activist Leah Navarro.
The complaint includes 24 violations based on major grounds composed of culpable violation of the constitution, graft and corruption, bribery, betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes.
"The Vice President has reduced public office to a platform for violent rhetoric, personal enrichment, elitist entitlement and a shield for impunity," Teresita Quintos Deles, one of the complainants, said in a statement.
A representative of the Akbayan opposition party endorsed the complaint in the Philippine House of Representatives.
Duterte's office said requests for comment had been relayed to the vice president.
This Tokyo brewery dates back to the days of the samurai, it's making sake, Japan's traditional rice wine.
The impeachment bid is the latest twist in a high-profile row among three of the Philippines' highest office-holders after the collapse of a powerful alliance between their families led to Marcos' landslide win in the 2022 election.
"This impeachment is not just a legal battle but a moral crusade to restore dignity and decency to public service," said Leila de Lima, a spokesperson for the complainants and a staunch critic of an anti-narcotics campaign run by Duterte's father.
The complaint accused Duterte of violating the Philippine constitution by refusing to attend hearings on her budget which violated the system of checks and balances, and graft, both as vice president's office and when she was the education minister.
It also accused her of gross incompetence and dereliction of duty.
Sara Duterte said on Nov. 23 that she had contracted someone to kill Marcos, his wife, and House Speaker Martin Romualdez, the president's cousin, if she herself were to be killed. Later she said the remarks had been taken out of context.
On Friday, in remarks that drew criticism from some lawmakers, Marcos said any impeachment complaint against his estranged vice president would only distract Congress and not help people.
Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, said the impeachment complaint would likely test Congress' will to move against Duterte.
"This is a test to Congress, on whether after all the investigations, it will have the guts to impeach Sara," she said in a message.
The Philippines' lower chamber of congress is dominated by allies of Marcos, which could allow her impeachment to go through the lower chamber before an impeachment trial in the Senate.
