Sara Duterte's Historic Impeachment Trial Opens as a Key Ally Is Hauled Off in Handcuffs

The Philippine Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, formally opened the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday afternoon, launching a historic constitutional showdown that could end the political career of one of the country's most powerful figures. Duterte is the first vice president in Philippine history to face an impeachment trial, and the proceedings are expected to stretch on for months.

The charges are sweeping. Duterte stands accused of two violations of the constitution and betrayal of public trust tied to the alleged misuse of confidential government funds, a failure to disclose her wealth, bribery, and making death threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Anti-money-laundering investigators flagged more than $110 million in suspicious private bank transactions connected to the case.

The trial opened amid extraordinary drama. Just hours before the first gavel, Duterte ally Senator Rodante Marcoleta was arrested on a plunder charge for allegedly accepting 75 million pesos, about $1.2 million, in illegal campaign donations. His removal from the chamber immediately scrambled the vote math for a woman who needs every friendly senator she can find. More than 6,000 police officers, including anti-riot squads, ringed the Senate as rival crowds of supporters and detractors demonstrated nearby.

The stakes could hardly be higher. The 24-seat Senate acts as jury, and a conviction requires a two-thirds majority, or 16 votes. If found guilty, the 48-year-old Duterte would be removed from office and permanently barred from holding elected office, foreclosing a widely expected run for president in 2028. Marcos, who cannot seek reelection, and Duterte were elected on the same ticket in 2022 before their alliance collapsed into open warfare.

The feud turned menacing in late 2024, when Duterte declared in a livestreamed briefing that she had arranged for Marcos to be assassinated if she herself were killed. "Don't worry about my safety," she said at the time. "If I get killed, go kill BBM," using the president's initials. That remark, delivered in November of that year, became one of the central pillars of the impeachment case against her.

The House of Representatives voted to impeach Duterte in May 2026 after an earlier attempt in February 2025 was dismissed on technical grounds. Prosecutors under Article IV of their case were expected to begin presenting evidence Tuesday, opening what analysts describe as the most consequential political trial in the Philippines in a generation. Whatever the verdict, the proceedings mark a stunning reversal for a dynasty that once looked poised to dominate Philippine politics for years to come.