Philippine Vice President Duterte asks Supreme Court to void her impeachment and block Senate trial

Vice-President Sara Duterte seeks Supreme Court to void impeachment, alleging political persecution and procedural defects.

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday (February 18, 2025) to void her impeachment and block a Senate trial that could remove her from office.

The House of Representatives, which is dominated by the allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., impeached Ms. Duterte on Feb. 5 over accusations that included plotting to assassinate the president and large-scale corruption. The Senate was expected to turn itself into an impeachment court to try Ms. Duterte after Congress resumes June 2.

The Vice-President, through her lawyers, asked the 15-member high court to annul her impeachment and block the trial because its initiation “was procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm and jurisdictionally void.”

Lawyer Israelito Torreon told reporters the complaint was sent to the Senate too fast for some of the House signees to study it.

“This is part of a plan probably to eliminate her as a probable contender” in the 2028 presidential elections, Mr. Torreon said, saying it could not be described as anything other than political persecution.

A conviction in the Senate trial would bar her from holding public office.

The impeachment complaint focused on Ms. Duterte’s statements at a Nov. 23 online news conference that she would have the President, his wife and cousin House Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated if she herself was killed in their escalating political feud. She has denied that she meant to threaten to kill them.