Representative Sandro Marcos, the grandson of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos and eldest son of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has reportedly secured more than 200 votes in the House of Representatives to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte, marking a dramatic escalation in the feud between the Philippines' two most powerful political dynasties.
The vote count, confirmed by multiple sources within the ruling coalition, would exceed the simple majority needed to advance impeachment articles to the Senate for trial. The timing is particularly striking: it comes exactly one year after Sara Duterte's father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The younger Marcos, who represents Ilocos Norte, the family's political stronghold, has been working the floor for weeks, according to congressional insiders. The impeachment push centers on allegations related to Sara Duterte's handling of confidential funds during her tenure as education secretary, though political observers see the move as theater with substance – a calculated strike in a battle over the country's foreign policy direction.
The Marcos-Duterte alliance, which swept the 2022 elections under the "UniTeam" banner, began fracturing last year over disagreements on Philippines' increasingly close defense ties with the United States. President Marcos Jr. has granted Washington access to four additional military bases under the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement, a move that alarmed the Duterte camp, which has historically favored closer ties with .

