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Raissa Robles

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial entered a politically explosive new phase on Monday as prosecutors turned to allegations of unexplained wealth in proceedings that could end her term and bar her from a possible presidential run in 2028.
The Senate hearing opened its 24th day with congressmen serving as House prosecutors beginning to tackle the third of four impeachment charges against Duterte-Carpio, whose legal troubles have intensified alongside her increasingly bitter feud with President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.
Once Marcos’ running mate in the 2022 election, Duterte-Carpio is now one of his fiercest critics, accusing him of corruption and political persecution as she fights both the impeachment case and a separate criminal charge.
On Friday, Duterte-Carpio was due to be arraigned before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court on charges of issuing grave threats against Marcos, his wife and his cousin – allegations that also form part of one of the impeachment charges against her.
The court agreed to defer the arraignment after she filed a motion seeking a delay. The vice-president then called on Marcos to resign, accusing him of corruption and of using his power to politically persecute her and her family.

“I cannot bring myself to just stay silent while I see you swimming through floods. Because I see you struggling so hard for your families. Because I witnessed the abuse of Marcos with my very own eyes,” Duterte-Carpio told supporters outside the court.
“Remember to keep calling for the departure of our nation’s problem, whose name is Bongbong Marcos. Resign, get out of there. You are a liar, you are abusive, you are corrupt.”
Asked about Duterte-Carpio’s remarks by reporters accompanying him to India for the Brics summit, Marcos brushed them aside.
“You know, I hear about them, but I don’t really even have a response. If she feels very angry, I suppose, with what’s happening to her. And I am the target of that anger, or the main target of that anger. What can I do? You cannot force anyone to love you,” Marcos said, drawing laughter.
On whether Marcos played a role in Duterte-Carpio’s recent legal and political troubles, observers told This Week in Asia that the question could not be separated from the evidence being presented against her.
“Well, he may have something to do with it,” said Dr Jean Franco, a political-science professor at the University of the Philippines.
“But it can still be true that there is enough evidence to charge her with grave threats and to impeach her and try her in the Senate. Both can be true. They are not mutually exclusive.”
Barry Gutierrez, a professor of criminal law at the University of the Philippines College of Law, said public reaction would depend heavily on political loyalties, with pro-Duterte supporters likely to “scream persecution and constitutional violation”, while those backing conviction would welcome it.
For those still undecided, “if there are truly any left”, Gutierrez said the response would probably depend on the final legal basis and explanation.

“Of course, he is responsible and to blame,” said lawyer Vic Rodriguez, Marcos’ former chief presidential aide who is now a close ally of Duterte-Carpio.
Even if others were doing the “thinking, planning and execution” for Marcos, Rodriguez said, “the buck stops with him”.
The prosecution has spent much of the trial trying to show that Duterte-Carpio’s office and the Department of Education, which she headed from 2022 to 2024, could not properly account for hundreds of millions of pesos in confidential funds – money meant for sensitive security and intelligence-related spending.
The alleged irregularities included military certifications that officers said were used to justify fund liquidations even though their units had not received any money, and cash payments allegedly channelled through Colonel Raymund Lachica, then commander of the Vice-Presidential Security and Protection Group.
Philippine Statistics Authority assistant national statistician Marizza Grande testified on September 7 that of 2,669 “acknowledgment receipts” Lachica and his team had gathered from recipients of the confidential funds as proof of payment, 1,685 lacked birth, marriage or death records.
At least 152 names showed up in the Civil Registration Service database, including 37 people who were already dead before they supposedly received payments, and 25 children. The youngest was Miko Alquizar, who was six months old when a receipt for 400,000 pesos was signed by someone bearing the same name.
The defence maintained that the names used were aliases to protect whistle-blowers.

Analysts say the next procedural battle will focus on the number of votes needed to convict Duterte-Carpio.
Under the usual reading, Duterte-Carpio will be removed only if two thirds of the 24-member Senate, or 16 senator-judges, vote to convict her. But some senators have been absent or unable to participate because of criminal cases, an Ombudsman investigation, medical leave or, in the case of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa, an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.
Gutierrez said the impeachment court had cause to review the threshold because “the circumstances of the current Senate are unprecedented, with four senators out and unable to participate, with possibly more to follow”.
“That alone should be sufficient context to open the conversation,” he said.
But Rodriguez warned that Duterte-Carpio’s camp would view any attempt to lower the required number of votes for conviction as “yet another legal anomaly”.
With public anger already building over the flood-control scandal, other controversies and the worsening economy, “BBM is courting disaster,” Rodriguez said, referring to Marcos by his initials.
Franco predicted that any such move “will divide the public. The important thing is that any decision on this will be perceived as impartial and legitimate”.
While the case against Duterte-Carpio could have enough legal basis to convict her, Franco said “it can also be true that [the family’s] enemies are using these cases to politically disempower them”.


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The Philippines

Philippine VP’s impeachment trial heats up as unexplained wealth takes centre stage

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio (centre) arrives at the Hall of Justice for a scheduled arraignment in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Friday. Photo: EPA

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr attends a session during the Brics summit in New Delhi, India, on Sunday. Photo: Pool via Reuters

Supporters of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte distribute food and display a banner outside the City Hall in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Friday. Photo: EPA

The building of the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City. Photo: Xinhua

Police keep watch on supporters of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio outside the Hall of Justice in Quezon City, Metro Manila, on Friday. Photo: EPA

Supporters of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio gather as she visits the Quezon city justice hall on Friday. Photo: AP

US-led Luzon corridor in Philippines faces growing scrutiny over real local benefits

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr delivers a speech during the Luzon Economic Corridor  Investment Forum in Manila on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Initially conceptualised as a transport and logistics project, the Luzon Economic Corridor has expanded into  development plans for energy, digital infrastructure, critical minerals and advanced manufacturing. Photo: US embassy in the Philippines

A toll booth at the Clark Freeport Zone in the Philippines. Photo: Handout

Visitors queue to get free goodies from a Philippine exhibitor’s booth during the China International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Philippine court orders Sara Duterte to be arrested for threatening President Marcos, his wife

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte speaks during a demonstration outside the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, on July 29. Photo: AP

Senator Joel Villanueva, sitting as trial judge, rubs his eyes during the impeachment hearing of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio in Pasay City, Metro Manila, on August 12. Photo: AFP

Philippines’ impeachment trial: court ruling heightens stakes for VP Sara

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio during a press conference in February in Manila. Photo: AP

Presiding Officer Senator Francis Escudero bangs the gavel during the impeachment trial of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte at the Senate on Monday. Photo: EPA

A video clip of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte is projected from a screen above senator judges during her impeachment trial, at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City, Metro Manila, on Tuesday. Photo: Pool via AP

National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag takes an oath before testifying in the impeachment trial of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte at the Senate on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

National Bureau of Investigation Director Melvin Matibag (right) holds a storage device containing evidence during his testimony in the impeachment trial of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte on Tuesday. Photo: EPA

Philippines’ impeachment showdown: why removing VP Sara could be uphill battle

Protesters against Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpion carry posters bearing her photo during a rally near the Senate in Pasay city on Monday. Photo: AP

Congresswoman Gerville Luistro (left) delivers an opening statement during proceedings for the impeachment trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte at the Philippine Senate on Monday. Photo: AFP

The building of the Senate of the Philippines in Pasay City, where the impeachment trial against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio is being held. Photo: Xinhua

Senator-judges are seen at the start of the impeachment trial against Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte at the Philippine Senate in Pasay City on Monday. Photo: Xinhua

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Prosecutors have so far tried to prove that Sara Duterte-Carpio’s office could not properly account for millions of pesos in confidential funds


Prosecutors have so far tried to prove that Sara Duterte-Carpio’s office could not properly account for millions of pesos in confidential funds.


Sara Duterte-Carpio

Ferdinand Marcos Jnr

Philippine Senate

Philippine Statistics Authority

Philippine VP’s impeachment trial heats up as unexplained wealth takes centre stage

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Prosecutors have so far tried to prove that Sara Duterte-Carpio’s office could not properly account for millions of pesos in confidential funds

Prosecutors have so far tried to prove that Sara Duterte-Carpio’s office could not properly account for millions of pesos in confidential funds