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The Diplomat
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Diplomat
Philippine House Seeks Reversal of Supreme Court Ruling on VP's Impeachment
The Philippine House of Representatives has challenged a recent Supreme Court ruling nullifying its impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte, filing a Motion for Reconsideration urging the court to reverse its ruling. Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for 'violation of the constitution, betrayal of public trust, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.' These include alleged corruption, involvement in extrajudicial killings, and a threat to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. However, in a unanimous ruling on July 25, the Supreme Court said that the impeachment had violated a constitutional rule known as the 'one-year bar,' which states that only one impeachment proceeding may be initiated against any official within one year. In its motion to the Court, which was filed on Monday, lawyers for the House argued that impeachment 'is primarily a political process, as emphasized by the Constitution's entrusting it to Congress and not to the Judiciary.' It added, 'Thus, any ruling of this Honorable Court on impeachment must reflect impeachment's true nature. It must give due deference to the branch of government to whom impeachment is entrusted.' The Supreme Court argued that the House violated the one-year bar by accepting and archiving three prior impeachment complaints, and that the fourth should have been barred. But the House motion claimed that this was the result of a factual error, and 'it is rather the fourth impeachment complaint which barred all other impeachment complaints from being initiated.' In a video statement on Monday, House Speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Marcos, said that the motion was 'an exercise in constitutional stewardship – an affirmation that every branch must act with fidelity to the Charter that gives us all our power.' He added, 'We act not to provoke a clash of institutions, but to prevent the erosion of the people's right to accountability.' Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has denied the charges laid out in the articles of impeachment and described it as a politically motivated witch hunt. In response, her allies have made a number of legal attempts to block to advance of the impeachment, including a resolution in the Senate and several complaints to the Supreme Court. The impeachment drama grew out of the bitter ongoing feud between Duterte and Marcos. Their two political families formed a formidable partnership ahead of the presidential election of 2022, and Duterte and Marcos won their respective elections in a landslide. But the partnership between the two camps has since deteriorated, due to a toxic combination of political differences and personal idiosyncrasies. In June 2024, Duterte resigned from Marcos' cabinet, where she served as education secretary, and immediately came under investigation for her alleged misuse of government funds. This provided the backdrop to her outburst during a livestream in November, during which she claimed that her life was at risk, and that she had had hired a hitman to assassinate the president, his wife, and House Speaker Romualdez, in the event of her own murder. The month after Duterte's impeachment, her father was arrested by Philippine police on an arrest warrant issued by International Criminal Court in The Hague. Duterte is now in the court's custody awaiting trial for crimes against humanity linked to his violent 'war on drugs' campaign. While the Supreme Court said that it had not absolved Duterte of the charges, its ruling offered a last-minute reprieve for Duterte, who was awaiting a Senate trial that could have stripped her of the vice presidency and disqualified her from public office for life. The vice president is widely expected to launch a campaign for the presidency in 2028, in a bid to succeed Marcos, who is limited to a single six-year term in office. If successful, she will no doubt use the powers of her office to pursue retribution against the Marcoses and their allies. If the Supreme Court ruling stands, its net effect may simply be to ensure that the Duterte-Marcos feud continues to dominate Philippine politics up to, and maybe beyond, the next presidential election.
South China Morning Post
09-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Plot to bring down Marcos government cooked in a Hong Kong restaurant, whistle-blower claims
A whistle-blower has alleged that a video purporting to show Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr using illegal drugs was fabricated and spread online as part of a coordinated plot initiated at a Hong Kong restaurant, by allies of former president Rodrigo Duterte – including his former spokesman. Advertisement Vicente 'Pebbles' Cunanan, a political vlogger and social media influencer known for her ties to pro-Duterte online communities, testified before a congressional panel on Tuesday, alleging that former presidential spokesman Harry Roque played a key role in a scheme to undermine Marcos Jnr. Cunanan claimed that Roque boasted of his ability to 'bring down a government' during discussions about disseminating a doctored video intended to damage the president's credibility. Roque, identified by Cunanan in an affidavit submitted to the 'Tri-Com' inquiry – a joint investigation by three congressional committees – denied the accusations to This Week in Asia on Wednesday. Cunanan said the video – a manipulated clip supposedly showing Marcos Jnr sniffing cocaine – was first discussed during a July 2024 dinner in Hong Kong. The event at Yung Kee Restaurant in the city's Central district was attended by 16 supporters of Duterte, including Roque, former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, and ex-press secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles. The gathering occurred after a 'Maisug' prayer rally – a movement loosely affiliated with pro-Duterte causes. Advertisement She also submitted a photo of the dinner to the Philippine House of Representatives as evidence.
South China Morning Post
28-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Philippines pulls Asean card on East Timor over extradition row. Will it work?
Advertisement Referring to the move by Asia's youngest country to seek entry into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Manila's Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said it was 'not going to be pleasant for East Timor', citing how the Philippines was 'one of the founding fathers of Asean'. The saga centres on a Timorese court approving an appeal by Arnolfo Teves Jnr, a former Philippine House of Representatives member, to block his extradition to his home country. Teves is accused of murdering his political rival Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo and eight other people in 2023. The Philippines founded Asean with Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand in 1967. Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia joined in the following years. East Timor was granted observer status in Asean after its secession from Indonesia in 2002, with the bloc in 2022 agreeing 'in principle' to admit the country, allowing it access to the bloc's high-level meetings. Advertisement
AllAfrica
14-02-2025
- Politics
- AllAfrica
China fueling a political explosion in the Philippines
Skip to content Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on a previous campaign trail. Photo: Facebook MANILA – The Philippines kicked off its midterm election cycle in turmoil, with the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration engaged in a two-front assault targeting his former ally-turned-enemy the Dutertes on one hand and their perceived backers in Beijing on the other. Setting the stage for a raucous campaign, nearly two-thirds of the Philippine House of Representatives, which is broadly aligned to the president, overwhelmingly voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte on the grounds of alleged corruption and abuse of power, not least a not-so-veiled threat to assassinate Marcos Jr. Days later, Marcos Jr took up the cudgels against the Dutertes with unusually combative rhetoric. During a recent campaign sortie in his home province of Ilocos Norte, where he accompanied the administration's senatorial and key local government bets, Marcos Jr unleashed a broadside attack against his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte and his clan's aligned candidates. 'None of [my preferred candidates] are accomplices in pocketing sacks of money, exploiting the pandemic crisis and letting our countrymen get sick and die,' he declared, referring to the Duterte administration's alleged abysmal handling of and numerous corruption scandals during the Covid-19 pandemic. 'None of them acts like the acolyte of a false prophet who is languishing due to his defiling of our youth and women. None of them defends the hotbeds of crime and sexual harassment against women—the POGOS [Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators],' he added, referring to Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, an erstwhile Duterte ally detained on charges of sex and human trafficking, as well as the proliferation of dodgy online Chinese casinos during the previous Rodrigo Duterte administration. The Filipino president has also upped the ante by effectively accusing his Duterte-aligned rivals of being Chinese puppets while emphasizing his comparatively uncompromising stance on the South China Sea disputes. 'None of them claps for China and is even happy whenever we are being water cannoned, our Coast Guard rammed, fishermen blocked, their catches stolen and our islands retaken as their own territory,' he declared, referring to the Duterte era's soft-pedaling on China's aggressive actions in the disputed waters. Marcos Jr's tough rhetoric has coincided with a systematic crackdown on alleged Chinese influence operations in the Philippines. Over the past month, the Philippine intelligence and security authorities have apprehended various Chinese nationals allegedly involved in espionage activities while the Philippine legislature has conducted hearings subpoenaing suspected pro-China propagandists. Public pressure has also been building on Beijing-friendly candidates such as Ronald Dela Rosa, former President Duterte's police chief, who has suddenly and expediently adopted a tougher stance on the South China Sea disputes. Since rising to elected power, Marcos Jr has steadily adopted a firmer stand on China while doubling down on enhanced defense relations with Western partners, including mutual defense treaty ally the US. He has also rolled back other key Duterte policy legacies such as the bloody 'drug war', which claimed the lives of tens of thousands of suspected drug dealers in extrajudicial killings. In response, the ex-president broke with tradition and, since last year, has effectively called for the resignation of his successor in favor of his daughter, Vice President Sara Duterte. In his latest outburst, Duterte again accused Marcos Jr of being a 'heroin addict' without providing evidence. With his daughter now facing potential impeachment in the Senate, the upper chamber tasked with conducting impeachment trials, the former president also openly quipped about 'killing' more than a dozen senators to pave the way for his favored candidates. Latest surveys consistently show that pro-Duterte candidates are lagging against Marco Jr's preferred bets, who have dominated the so-called 'magic 12' circle of potential winnables. Although the Dutertes remain popular on their home island of Mindanao and still enjoy the support of major religious groups, they've met their match in the Marcos Jr administration's well-oiled machinery. And they stand to lose at the polls amid accusations of acting as Beijing's proxies amid growing anti-China sentiment in the Philippines. Earlier this year, the Marcos Jr administration announced that it had purged the Dutertes from the National Security Council, where both the vice president and ex-presidents are usually either ex-officio or executive members. Now, pro-Duterte candidates are also feeling the China-related heat. 'I'll be frank with you. I am willing to kill myself in the [South China Sea] if they say I am pro-China. I am eager to wage war there in the West Philippine Sea,' re-electionist Senator Ronald dela Rosa, a staunch Dutetre ally, told reporters in a recent press conference. 'Pro-China? I challenge them, if they want, I will give them a gun and maybe we will attack the bullies in the West Philippine Sea,' he added, somewhat obscurely. What was once seen as an invincible tandem between the Philippines' two most powerful political dynasties has steadily turned into a heated war of words. Encouraged by Washington and other key allies, the Marcos Jr administration has stepped up efforts to curb Chinese influence that penetrated the country during Duterte. Last month, Philippine authorities announced the arrest of five Chinese nationals accused of espionage. According to the Philippine National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), the five suspects were caught taking alleged sensitive video footage through drones and military-grade cameras disguised as civilian security closed-circuit TVs (CCTVs). Days earlier, a Chinese national, along with two local accomplices, were caught in a vehicle carrying surveillance equipment while roaming sensitive military facilities. Philippine security agencies claim that the alleged spies were providing real-time data on strategic locations, including images of Philippine air and naval bases. They were also accused of recording the movements of Philippine warships engaged in resupply missions in contested South China Sea features. Top Philippine security officials have suggested the recent arrests are only the 'tip of the iceberg' of coming suppression operations, reflecting Manila's concerns about the infiltration of Chinese agents and their related assets in recent years. 'When you say gray zone, most people only think of Chinese activities out at sea, but information and psychological warfare have also become part and parcel of their malign influence,' National Security Council assistant director General Jonathan Malaya told The Japan Times in a recent interview. The Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department, meanwhile, has allegedly been actively weaponizing its influence among sympathetic groups, including Chinese-Filipino business groups that are dependent on imports from and access to Chinese markets. 'They are very active here in the Philippines and have significantly ramped up their actions since February 2023 when the Philippine government implemented a policy to expose and shed light into what's happening in the West Philippine Sea,' Malaya added, referring to the Philippines' 'Transparency Initiative' focused on exposing China's aggression in disputed waters. A major area of concern for a liberal democracy like the Philippines, meanwhile, is the proliferation of Beijing-backed troll farms and propagandists who have been actively spreading pro-China narratives that often discredit the incumbent government. A recent AidData study showed that as many as 10,000 fake accounts were run by China-based elements. According to the findings, Beijing has been engaged in a two-pronged approach that seeks to sow political divisions in the Philippines while undermining a unified national response to the South China Sea disputes. 'China is not engaging in all these media cooperation and development finance [projects] in a vacuum. It's happening alongside very visible disputes in the South China Sea,' Samantha Custer, director at AidData, told reporters following the release of their 51-page study in September. 'Less direct is the proliferation of online troll farms and other fake accounts that [Beijing] can use to spread mis- or disinformation to foreign publics, along with partnerships with social media influencers,' the study argued. In response, Philippine authorities are now pushing for revisions of the country's archaic espionage and treason laws to cope with emerging threats and the increasingly hybrid nature of warfare in the 21st century. The Philippines is also doubling down on intelligence-sharing with key allies, especially the US and Japan, to crack down on Chinese malign influence operations. For the first time in Philippine history, high-stakes elections have coincided with intensified proxy wars among superpowers backing rival political dynasties. Follow Richard Javad Heydarian on X at @RichHeydarian
South China Morning Post
08-02-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Has Philippine President Marcos outplayed the Dutertes in impeachment fight?
Published: 12:00pm, 8 Feb 2025 The impeachment of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio by more than two-thirds of the Philippine House of Representatives – including lawmakers from her family's southern stronghold of Mindanao – has signalled to analysts that President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his allies have 'outmanoeuvred' the Duterte dynasty in its own backyard. Out of the 60 congressmen representing the southern Philippines , 41 have signed the Articles of Impeachment that were sent to the Senate on Wednesday, according to the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism. One signatory is from the Davao region, where the vice-president's father, former president Rodrigo Duterte , reigned supreme for more than three decades. 'It's political jujitsu,' said historian Manolo Quezon, a former palace insider under presidents Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Benigno Aquino III. In the 2022 elections, Marcos Jnr and Duterte-Carpio campaigned together as a unified ticket and secured landslide victories. However, the alliance between them and their politically powerful families has transformed into a bitter public feud over the last year, with the vice-president even making public threats of assassination . 02:02 Philippine VP Sara Duterte to fight impeachment case in escalating clash with Marcos Jnr Philippine VP Sara Duterte to fight impeachment case in escalating clash with Marcos Jnr Despite that, Marcos Jnr had consistently described the effort to impeach the vice-president as an unnecessary government distraction before Wednesday's vote, describing it as a 'storm in a teacup' amid growing calls among his allies to oust her from office.
