By Kelvene Requiroso

On February 5, the Philippines’ House of Representatives impeached the vice president, Sara Duterte-Carpio. The next stage is the Senate trial, which is guaranteed to be full of immaterial outbursts from the senators allied with Duterte. And if found guilty, she will be removed and disqualified from holding any public office.

Almost five months of investigation on the alleged misuse of funds when Duterte was education secretary led to the filing of three impeachment complaints. More than two-thirds of lawmakers, 215 to be exact, voted to elevate the articles of impeachment to the Senate.

The investigation revealed Duterte’s gross violation of government rules when state auditors discovered that individuals without birth records were signatories of submitted receipts. The plot thickened from the initial probe into Duterte’s confidential funds — she resigned as education secretary, threatened to assassinate the president and his family, threw tantrums in public, and took the support of a religious group to rally behind her.

From an outsider’s vantage point, the whole thing was cut out of a soap opera, full of intrigues and entertainment value. But this is Philippine politics we are talking about, and it’s election season again.

Anyway, Duterte’s violations include plotting the assassination of the president, illegal spending of the 612-million confidential funds, bribery of education officials, extrajudicial killings in Davao, destabilization and insurrection against the government, obstruction of congressional inquiry, and unexplained wealth. These are the grounds for her impeachment in Congress and possible removal from office. Lawmakers summed these up in phrases like “betrayal of public trust” and “culpable violation of the Constitution.” Both are equally tricky and full of nuance.

These allegations should have been enough for Duterte to step down as vice president, but because she doesn’t have the shame and the sense of decency, she would not allow herself to be trampled by her political enemies without a fight. Now, lawmakers are bringing in the tournament contestant to the arena called the Senate. There will be public spectacles every weekday until judgment day.

The president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., initially said he was not keen on the impeachment of his vice president, who was also his running mate in 2022. Still, the impeachment passed the House. It would be safe to assume it got the blessings of the president. Perhaps it was because of the added drama by the Duterte camp – accusing the president of corruption in the 2025 national budget and using the Iglesia ni Cristo for a political rally to protect Sara.

This whole intramural is nothing but a family feud between the Marcoses and Dutertes – a hallmark of a country that has reverted to the old ways of clannish politics as the Philippines has always been since its creation through revolution hijacked by a few elite families and their interests. The Congress and Senate are more like cards than pawns in this saga.

It has been a well-recorded alliance of two families that put the liberals off the track and kept the reigns of political dynasties afloat. Now, what is more interesting than seeing the divorce of Marcos and Duterte before the eyes of a gossip-hungry nation that thrives on intrigues and entertainment?

We have now a national pastime coming up in the Senate manned by entertainers and intellectually depleted senators: the impeachment trial. Will it satisfy the hunger and thirst of the voters for something that could distract them or let them escape from the harsh daily realities, such as rising costs of living, unemployment, growing poverty, and declining quality of education?

As of this writing, the Senate has yet to decide on the rules and start the trial. Every reelectionist and senatorial aspirant is weighing their options for political survival.

The Congress acted upon the complaints filed at the plenary by the liberal group of Leila de Lima, members of the clergy, and left-leaning organizations and decided to elevate the case to the Senate. We’ll see how things go when the Senate takes the floor.

There had been two impeachment trials post-EDSA. The first was a failed trial of former president Joseph Estrada, overtaken by a nationwide protest in 2001. The second was the successful removal of the former chief justice, Renato Corona, from office in 2011. And in each instance, there were political ramifications.

About the Author

Kelvene Requiroso is a writer interested in the interplay between technology and society. He’s the director of ISMS Robotics, which promotes technology education in private and public schools (K-12).