Philippines vice president Sara Duterte is facing calls for impeachment over a list of allegations including graft, incompetence, and amassing wealth just days after she issued death threats to the president.
Ms Duterte, the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, has been embroiled in a row with current president Ferdinand Marcos Jr and is the subject of an enquiry into her spending by the House of Representatives.
A group of 16 signatories, including civil society members, religious leaders and ex-lawmakers critical of the former president asked Congress to impeach Ms Duterte on Monday. The vice president has denied any wrongdoings.
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” such as death threats she made against the president, his wife and the speaker of the House of Representatives.
“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.
“We’re hoping that with this complaint, we can end the nightmare that our vice president has brought to the people,” said rep Percival Cendana of the Akbayan opposition party, who endorsed the complaint in accordance with the constitution.
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 Mr Marcos’s landslide win in the 2022 election.
Ms Duterte on 23 November said she contracted someone to kill Mr Marcos, his wife and the speaker, if she herself were to be killed. Later she said the remarks had been taken out of context. The national bureau of investigation has subpoenaed Ms Duterte to face investigation following the threat.
The vice president has been also accused in the complaint of having unexplained wealth and of allowing a continuation of the extra-judicial killings of drug suspects begun by her father. The House has been investigating a misuse of £8.4m of confidential and intelligence funds received by Duterte’s offices as vice president and education secretary.
The state police have filed criminal complaints against Ms Duterte and her security staff for allegedly assaulting authorities and disobeying orders in an altercation in Congress.
Jean Encinas-Franco, a political science professor at the University of the Philippines, told Reuters that the impeachment complaint would likely test Congress’ will to move against Ms Duterte.
“This is a test to Congress, on whether after all the investigations, it will have the guts to impeach Sara,” she said.
Additional reporting by agencies