Activists in the Philippines have lodged a new impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte.
At least 74 left-wing complainants, including human rights and labour leaders, asked the country’s House of Representatives on Wednesday to unseat Duterte over the alleged misuse of government funds.
The request follows an impeachment motion filed earlier this week that focused on a recent public threat against the president. The incident has brought a power struggle between the pair’s powerful political clans to light.
Wednesday’s motion was over a “betrayal of public trust” concerning the misappropriation of 612.5 million pesos ($10.3m) in so-called “confidential funds”, and demanded that Duterte be permanently barred from office.
The complaint against the 46-year-old lawyer, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is the second in as many days.
On Monday, civil society and religious leaders submitted a case covering 24 alleged crimes and irregularities involving corruption and misconduct.
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The complaints included the death threat that Duterte made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr at a news conference last month, which is currently being probed by government investigators.
It also addressed her alleged role in her father’s brutal crackdown on illegal drugs while he was in office, which is under investigation by the International Criminal Court.
‘Antidote to impunity’
Duterte swept to power in 2022 in an alliance with Marcos but that has spectacularly collapsed in the leadup to elections in May, with their powerful families clashing.
Duterte has said that her instruction to have her estranged ally killed, which she revealed in late November, was not a plot to kill him but only meant to be triggered if any potential plot to assassinate her should be successful.
On Friday, Marcos drew criticism for warning that any impeachment complaint against his estranged vice president would only distract Congress and not help people.
In Wednesday’s complaint, activists said the vice president’s office spent 125 million pesos ($2m) over a period of 11 days during the Christmas holidays on suspicious expenditures, including renting “safe houses” and paying for unspecified confidential information.
The vice president, they alleged, had tried to cover up the misuse of public funds by submitting fabricated reports, receipts and documents and deliberately obstructing a congressional investigation.
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“The impeachment is the antidote to impunity,” said Renato Reyes of Bayan, a left-wing political coalition. “Citizens and taxpayers need to hold public officials accountable.”
The impeachment complaints will be examined by the House of Representatives, which is dominated by allies of Marcos and his cousin and key backer, House Speaker Martin Romualdez – also targeted by Duterte in last month’s death threat – before a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.
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