Sara Duterte impeachment hearings start as political death match heats up. 5 hours ago. Joel Guinto. Getty Images. Public hearings on the impeachment case against Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte have started in Congress.. The impeachment trial is the latest in an explosive feud between the country’s two main political dynasties – the Duterte and Marcos families. They formed a powerful political alliance which has since spectacularly unravelled.. Sara Duterte, 47, is accused of misusing public funds and threatening to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. If convicted, she will be removed as vice-president and barred from running in elections.. Duterte denied the allegations in a written reply and described the hearings as a political “fishing expedition”.. Who is Sara Duterte and what is the impeachment case against her?. Vice-President Sara Duterte is the daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte.. He is currently detained by the International Criminal Court at The Hague which is determining if he should stand trial for crimes against humanity committed during his bloody “war on drugs”.. Sara’s alliance with Marcos, formed for the 2022 elections was hailed as a “political dream team” and they won by a landslide.. But the alliance between the children of two former strongmen presidents soon unravelled as they pursued separate political agendas.. As vice-president Duterte has no official duties aside from succeeding Marcos in case he is unable to finish his term.. The president and vice-president are elected separately in the Philippines. The president is limited to a single six-year term while the vice-president can run for president at the end of their term.. Historically, this dynamic has resulted in friction between the two officials. A single-term president would want to hold as much influence during their term while the vice-president would use their term as springboard for a presidential campaign if the presidency is their ultimate goal.. Duterte announced her candidacy for president in the 2028 election a few weeks before the House impeachment hearings started.. The first sign of a crack in their alliance came when Duterte publicly said she wanted to be the defence secretary – and she was made education secretary instead.. She served in that position for two years, and the alleged misuse of millions of pesos in public funds is linked to that time. She has denied wrongdoing and decried the charge as political harassment.. Getty Images. At the height of the inquiries, which began in 2024, Duterte said in an explosive late-night live stream that she told one “person” that “if I get killed, go kill BBM [President Marcos], [First Lady] Liza Araneta, and [House Speaker] Martin Romualdez.”. Months later, in March 2025, the feud took another dramatic turn when Marcos allowed Interpol to arrest Rodrigo Duterte and bring him to The Hague.. What is the latest in the impeachment process?. Under Philippine law, officials like the president, vic
