Landslide House vote impeaches Sara Duterte for the second time

MANILA, Philippines (2nd update: 5:22 p.m.) —   The House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, May 11, voting 255 to 26 to send her to a Senate trial on charges of plundering public funds and plotting to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. killed.

The tally cleared the constitutional floor of 106 votes and overshot the most ambitious public forecast made last week — 215, nearly the same number the House recorded in its first voided impeachment of Duterte last year — by 40 votes. At least nine lawmakers abstained. 

Throughout last week, ranking lawmakers had floated estimates ranging from 137 to above 200, but in general House members believed the impeachment was a foregone conclusion. 

The vote on Monday leaves little doubt that the House supermajority closed ranks behind the impeachment case despite a public campaign by her allies to peel off votes. 

House justice committee members complained last week of threats from the Duterte-aligned Partido Demokratiko Pilipino to lawmakers who supported the impeachment against the vice president. 

The articles of impeachment will now be sent to the Senate, which is required to convene as an impeachment court. A two-thirds vote — 16 of 24 senators — would remove Duterte from office and bar her from the 2028 presidential race.

This also makes Duterte the first official in Philippine history to be impeached twice. 

The charges

The committee report adopted by the House lists four articles: betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.

The specific allegations include the misuse of at least P500 million in confidential funds at the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million at the Department of Education, where Duterte previously served as secretary; unexplained wealth and discrepancies in her statements of assets, liabilities and net worth; and an alleged plot to assassinate Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez.

The House justice committee found probable cause on April 29 in a 53-0 vote, then unanimously adopted the consolidated articles on May 4. 

Duterte and her legal team skipped every hearing, denying the charges only through press conferences and written statements.

A do-over the High Court forced

Monday's vote was the second attempt to put Duterte on trial. The House first impeached her in February 2025 with a 215-signature endorsement. 

The Supreme Court struck that complaint down as having violated the constitutional ban on filing more than one impeachment against the same official within a year.  

This time, the House approached the impeachment differently and more slowly with multiple "clarificatory" committee hearings.

Senate move

Attention now shifts to the Senate, where the math as of Monday appears to be in favor of Duterte.

The House vote came just hours after a dramatic leadership shakeup in the Senate, where Duterte-aligned lawmakers ousted Senate President Tito Sotto and installed Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano in his place.

Cayetano claimed the ouster was not related to Duterte's impeachment.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.