Manila's political earthquake intensified Tuesday as a House of Representatives panel found sufficient grounds to advance impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte, threatening to collapse the Marcos-Duterte alliance that has defined Philippine politics since 2022.
The House Committee on Justice voted to forward the impeachment complaint to the Senate for trial, a historic move that marks the first time a sitting vice president faces removal proceedings in the Philippines' modern democratic era. The charges center on P612.5 million in confidential funds allegedly misused by Duterte during her tenure as Education Secretary.
Duterte, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has dismissed the proceedings as "political persecution" orchestrated by the Marcos administration. But the committee's decision signals deepening fractures in ASEAN's second-largest economy, where the Marcos-Duterte ticket won a landslide victory just four years ago on promises of unity and continuity.
The political crisis comes at a precarious moment for the Philippines. The peso has weakened to near-historic lows, inflation remains above the central bank's target range, and Manila faces mounting pressure from Beijing over contested shoals in the South China Sea. Investor confidence, already fragile, now confronts the prospect of months-long impeachment proceedings that could paralyze governance.
"This is not just a domestic political drama," said Richard Heydarian, a political analyst at Manila-based Polytechnic University of the Philippines, speaking to local media. "Foreign investors are watching whether Philippine institutions can handle this crisis without descending into paralysis or worse."
The confidential funds at the heart of the case were earmarked for intelligence and security operations, a budget line typically reserved for defense and national security agencies. Critics allege that spent the funds with insufficient documentation and oversight, raising questions about transparency in government spending that have plagued Philippine administrations for decades.
