VP Duterte weathers partisan flak, intrigues

Vice President Sara Duterte was not removed from office, but the 2025 impeachment complaints against her nonetheless reshaped the country’s political landscape, tested constitutional procedures, strained institutions, and redefined her relationship with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

At the center of the controversy were allegations of the misuse of confidential funds and her remarks that were interpreted as a threat against the President.

While Duterte’s allies mobilized early, most visibly through a massive Iglesia ni Cristo rally opposing her impeachment, the House of Representatives pressed forward, voting on 5 February to impeach her with more than two-thirds support.

What followed was not a swift reckoning, but a prolonged procedural standoff.

The Senate’s delayed action, the return of the impeachment articles to the House for “constitutional compliance,” and the Supreme Court’s eventual ruling declaring the articles unconstitutional shifted the narrative from accountability to process.

By August, the Senate formally archived the case, citing the one-year ban on impeachment proceedings.

Throughout the episode, the core allegations remained unresolved. The Commission on Audit (CoA) confirmed that P125 million in confidential funds allocated to the Office of the Vice President had been spent in just 11 days, while Duterte’s use of similar funds during her tenure at the Department of Education also drew scrutiny.

These issues formed the backbone of the accusations ranging from graft to betrayal of public trust.

The controversy was further inflamed by a resurfaced November 2024 video in which Duterte appeared to suggest retaliation against the President and other officials if she were killed — remarks authorities treated as a security threat, though Duterte later said she was misinterpreted.

In the end, the impeachment did not culminate in a trial or verdict. Instead, it left behind lingering questions: about the limits of impeachment, the speed of accountability, and whether political power can outpace constitutional intent.

Amid the political turmoil, the Vice President retained a seemingly unshakable rating.

Duterte faced various challenges and legal problems after she broke ties with Marcos.

A former mayor of Davao City, she was Marcos’s running mate in the 2022 national elections, which they both won by a landslide.

However, the alliance between the two powerful political clans collapsed amid the intense political conflict which began with her father’s sustained attacks on President Marcos.

Former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is now in detention at the Hague, Netherlands, for alleged crimes against humanity over his administration’s war on drugs, had criticized Marcos as being a “weak leader” and a “drug addict.”

Prior to the political rift, the VP was part of Marcos’ Cabinet as the secretary of the Department of Education and vice chairperson of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict. She quit both posts on 19 July 2024.

Sara faces crisis

Duterte claimed that she went through what she described as a “professional crisis” during her stint as a Cabinet member, saying she had been attacked despite her commitment to serve.

“It was a professional crisis when I became Vice President. I was serving in the Cabinet of President Marcos, and I wondered why I was being attacked. I wasn’t doing anything to them,” she said in a press conference.

Not only that, the Vice President has perhaps faced the most difficult period of her political career after 215 lawmakers voted unanimously to impeach her.

It will be recalled that three impeachment complaints were filed against the Vice President in December 2024, all of which were related to her alleged misuse of confidential funds.

It was the fourth impeachment complaint endorsed by more than one-third of the House members that was transmitted to the Senate as the articles of impeachment.

On 5 February 2025, the House of Representatives impeached the Vice President, with a majority of lawmakers voting to adopt the articles of impeachment against her.

Duterte stood accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes, among other things, over the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential and intelligence funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education, which she had concurrently headed.

Plunder and graft complaints were also filed against her and 15 other officials of the Department of Education and the Office of the Vice President over the alleged misuse of P612.5-million in confidential funds.

The second-highest elected official also faced another legal problem when a detained kidnapping suspect, who claimed to be her former aide, accused her of receiving money from illegal drugs and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO).

However, VP Duterte vehemently denied the allegations made by Ramil Madriaga, stressing that her accuser had failed to present evidence to support his claims.