MANILA — A new impeachment bid against Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio was lodged before the House of Representatives on Monday night, marking the third impeachment complaint filed against her this year and reigniting a politically charged effort to unseat the country’s second-highest official.
The complaint was filed by a group of priests, nuns, and lawyers, accompanied by ML party-list’s Cong. Leila de Lima, and accuses Duterte-Carpio of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, plunder and/or malversation, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.
The filing adds to two earlier impeachment complaints this year, both of which centered on allegations that Duterte-Carpio misused public funds. One of those complaints also revived claims that she threatened to assassinate former ally President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.—allegations she has repeatedly denied.
Duterte-Carpio has dismissed the impeachment effort backed by the Akbayan party-list as “baseless” and an “abuse of impeachment.”
Under the Constitution, impeachment proceedings initiated by the House would lead to a Senate trial, where conviction would result in removal from office and a lifetime ban from holding public office.
The renewed filing comes despite a recent Supreme Court ruling that struck down a previous impeachment attempt against Duterte-Carpio. Last year, the House impeached her on similar charges filed by a group backed by de Lima and other lawmakers, but the Senate later returned the case to the House, raising questions over its constitutionality.
In late January, the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment violated the constitutional prohibition against filing multiple impeachment complaints against the same official within a single year, a position it has since reaffirmed./PN
