ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Philippine Senate Opens Impeachment Trial of Vice President Sara Duterte

The 48-year-old faces charges of corruption, bribery, and an alleged plot to assassinate her rival, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Philippine Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian presides over the first day of the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Jul. 6, 2026.

The Philippine Senate yesterday opened the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, kicking off a process that is likely to dominate the country’s politics in the second half of 2026.

In May, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to impeach Duterte for a range of transgressions, including corruption, misuse of government funds, and an alleged plot to kill her former ally, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., and his wife. If convicted, which requires a two-thirds vote in the 24-seat chamber, the 48-year-old Duterte would lose her post and be banned from holding elected office for life.

More than 6,000 police officers were deployed around the Senate building for the opening day of the trial, and both supporters and detractors held protests in the vicinity.

The trial, which comes against the backdrop of the bitter feud between Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will be held on three days each week, with the prosecution being allotted 62 trial dates and the defense 30. This suggests that the trial could drag on into the latter months of 2026, and possibly beyond.

During Monday’s opening session, prosecutors from the House of Representatives focused primarily on the corruption allegations against Duterte. “If ordinary Filipinos are held to account, why not the most powerful government official? That is why the trial is important,” said Congresswomen Gerville Luistro, presenting the prosecution’s opening argument.

Duterte, who has announced her plan to seek the presidency in 2028, did not attend yesterday’s session, but has flatly denied the allegations against her. Earlier this week, she stated that the articles of impeachment submitted by the House “suffer from fatal constitutional, procedural, and substantive defects” and that the evidence against her consisted of “erroneous conclusions, speculation, political rhetoric and materials gathered through an unauthorized evidentiary fishing expedition.”

During yesterday’s session, Duterte’s defense counsel Sheila Sison dismissed the prosecution’s claims of corruption linked to the alleged misuse of confidential funds, stating that Marcos and his Cabinet approved the request and the release of the allegedly questionable funds in the first place.

The impeachment stems from two complaints, filed in February, which allege that Duterte misused 612.5 million pesos ($10 million) in confidential funds in her capacity as vice president and education secretary. The complaints also reference her unexplained wealth, accuse her of bribery when she was education secretary, and take aim at........

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