Landslide House vote impeaches Sara Duterte for the second time

MANILA, Philippines (3rd update: 6:41 p.m.) —   The House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, May 11, voting 257 to 25 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 42 votes. At least nine lawmakers abstained. 

Throughout last week, ranking lawmakers had floated estimates ranging from 137 to above 200, but in general, senior 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 vice president's legal team responded shortly after the vote with a statement sent to reporters by lawyer and spokesperson Michael Poa.

"We are aware of the action taken by the plenary and with that vote to transmit the Articles of Impeachment, the burden now rests on the accusers to substantiate their claims in accordance with the Constitution, the law, and rules on evidence," Poa said.

"While questions of constitutional significance remain pending before the Supreme Court, we are fully prepared to defend the Vice President before the Senate sitting as an Impeachment Court, where it is incumbent upon the Prosecution to discharge the burden of proof," he added.

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.

'We have seen the smoking guns'

On the plenary floor, Rep. Jude Acidre (Tingog), who campaigned for Duterte in 2022, said he voted yes "with a heavy heart." He said he had waited for an explanation that could satisfy the demands of truth and accountability, but none came.

"The evidence before us was not vague; it was not light; it was not something I could pretend away simply because the decision was difficult," Acidre said. "It was substantial, serious, and overwhelming."

Rep. Perci Cendaña (Akbayan), who voted in favor of impeachment, pointed to Duterte's absence from every hearing and her foreign travel during the proceedings.

"And while we are here in Congress, where is Inday Sara? On travel leave. Gallivanting in the Netherlands, Korea, Belgium, Germany, and the UK," Cendaña said. "She did not even give an ounce of respect to this eminent constitutional process."

He warned colleagues not to be swayed by the Senate leadership change earlier in the day, or "by the legislators and supporters of VP Sara who suddenly show up and throw tantrums in the plenary."

Rep. Renee Co (Kabataan) said the committee hearings produced witness testimony that Duterte ordered fake liquidation reports to the Commission on Audit, records of billions in unreported deposits, and "videos that are real and verified — not AI — where she says she contracted someone to kill her political rivals."

"The poor person who steals a can of food is jailed immediately, but the high official who steals millions from the national treasury gets away. It cannot be that way," Co said.

Rep. Chel Diokno (Akbayan), meanwhile, pointed to the evidence that was surfaced during the hearings.

"It's there; we have all seen the smoking guns," he said, citing "the billions and billions of pesos that passed through the accounts of Vice President Sara Duterte despite only millions being declared in her SALN."

"To Vice President Sara — see you in the impeachment court," Diokno said.

Rep. Leila de Lima (Mamamayang Liberal) said the committee found more than isolated incidents from the vice president and saw "patterns of bad behavior" and "habits of abuse of power." 

House members who voted against impeaching Duterte cited the will of their districts, and a few mounted a broader defense of the vice president.

Rep. Vanessa Aumentado (Bohol, 2nd District), Rep. Dale Corvera (Agusan del Norte), and Rep. Rachel Marguerite Del Mar (Cebu City, 1st District) each said they were following their constituents. "During the 19th Congress, it was a 'no,' and for the 20th Congress, it still remains a 'no,'" Del Mar said.

Rep. Shirlyn Bañas-Nograles (General Santos) said the chamber was setting a damaging precedent.

"Impeachment is not a routine instrument of political contest; it is an extraordinary measure reserved for the most compelling circumstances," she said. "To lower its threshold risks weakening the very institution it is meant to protect."

She also invoked the 32 million Filipinos who elected Duterte vice president in 2022. "Any effort to remove its occupant must respect the will of the electorate."

Rep. Francisco "Kiko" Barzaga (Cavite, 4th District) called Duterte "the only 2028 presidential candidate who is capable of creating that future" and "our nation's most vocal anti-corruption figure," crediting her with first exposing the flood control corruption scandal that has consumed Congress this year.

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.

An earlier version of this story cited the House of Representatives' presiding officer in saying the vote tally is 255-26-9. At around 6:40 p.m., the House corrected itself and said the tally is 257-25-9. We have updated the article to reflect this.