Latest news with #SaraDuterte
GMA Network
21 hours ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Palace: Sara Duterte impeachment trial beyond President Marcos' reach
The impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte is beyond the reach of President Ferdinand Marcos, Jr., Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said Friday. 'Maliwanag po ang sinabi ng Pangulo na sa simula po ay ayaw niya talaga po ng impeachment dahil maaaring mayroon pong ibang mga legal na pamamaraan para mapanagot ang dapat mapanagot. Pero ngayon po, ang Bise Presidente po ay impeached na, wala na po sa Pangulo ito,' Castro said during a Palace press briefing. (What the President said is clear from the very start. He does not favor impeachment because there may be other legal remedies to hold public officials accountable. But now that the Vice President is already impeached, this is out of the President's hands.) Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on February 5, with over 200 congressmen endorsing the complaint against her. She was accused of betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and other high crimes mainly over alleged misuse of around P612.5 million worth of confidential funds and threatening to kill Marcos, First Lady Liza, and the President's cousin and Speaker, Leyte First District Rep. Martin Romualdez. 'Iyon naman po ay kaniyang suggestion lang, kung maaari ay ayaw niya ng impeachment. Ang sabi po ng Pangulo, proseso,' Castro added. (What the President said is a mere suggestion. But he favors due process.) Further, Castro said that the President does not have the authority over any impeachment proceeding. 'The impeachment trial is not the business of the Executive. Hindi po makikialam ang Pangulo patungkol po diyan, pero sinabi po niya na dapat umandar ang proseso, irespeto ang due process,' Castro said. (The President won't meddle with the impeachment process, but the President also said the process should be followed, with respect to due process.) 'So, ito po ay nasa kamay na ng mga prosecutors, nasa kamay na po ng Senado. 'Pag sinabi po nating proseso, dapat sundin ang batas,' she added. (The impeachment is in the hands of the prosecutors and the Senate. And when we say process, law should be followed.) Castro also said the ultimate judge of the public officials' performance, whether it is the Vice President, senators or the House prosecutors, is the people. 'Ang taumbayan na po ang titingin at maghuhusga sa mga taong nasa loob or maaaring gumalaw para sa impeachment trial. Ang mga prosecutors dapat gampanan ang kanilang trabaho bilang prosecutors; ang mga senador bilang judges ay dapat ding gampanan ang kanilang trabaho bilang senators-judges. Proseso po ang nais ng Pangulo,' Castro said. (The public will be the one to judge those involved in the impeachment trial. The prosecutors should do their job as prosecutors, the senators should do their job as senator-judges. At the end of the day, what the President wants is due process.) The Vice President, for her part, said she is looking forward to her impeachment trial in the upcoming 20th Congress because she 'wants a bloodbath." —AOL, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
VP Sara back in Netherlands to visit dad Duterte, Imee in tow
Vice President Sara Duterte is now in the Netherlands, ahead of the impeachment trial against her. According to Maki Pulido's report in '24 Oras' on Thursday, Duterte arrived in Amsterdam on Wednesday, accompanied by Senator Imee Marcos, who will be one of the senator-judges at her trial. Her office had earlier announced her schedule this week, which included a trip to the Netherlands to once again visit her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained at the International Criminal Court in The Hague. She is also scheduled to celebrate her 47th birthday on Saturday together with Filipino Duterte supporters in front of the ICC. While the vice president is abroad, the Senate is busy preparing for the trial, with the rooms already prepared and the robes for the senator-judges already measured. The reading of the articles of impeachment against the Vice President had originally been scheduled for June 2, when she would have still been in Europe. On Thursday, Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero announced that the reading has been postponed to June 11. The trial will be held at the Senate's session hall with the gallery open to the media and members of the public. The witness stand that had been used during the impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada in 2000 has been brought out of the museum to be used again. The Senate of the 19th Congress will adjourn on June 13. The 20th Congress will then convene on July 28, the day of the President's State of the Nation Address. Senator-elect Vicente "Tito" Sotto III has questioned whether the impeachment is transferrable to the 20th Congress. In response, House prosecutor Lorenz Defensor likened the impeachment trial to a regular trial, saying, "Once a case is filed with the trial court, the judge may retire, the judge may get promoted, but the case stays on with the trial court. Hindi nadi-dismiss ang kaso just because napalitan ang mga judges [The case is not dismissed just because the judges are replaced]." For his part, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said, 'Yung prinsipyo kasi ng Senate is a continuing body, kaya merong 12-12. Twelve ang incumbent katulad ko, may 12 na bago. So continuing body siya, so 'yang principle na 'yan, tingin ko ma-a-apply 'yan sa mga ganitong situation, tulad ng impeachment.' (The principle of the Senate is that it is a continuing body, that's why there's 12-12. There's 12 incumbents like me and 12 others who are new. So it's a continuing body and that principle will apply in this kind of situation like the impeachment.) Senator Joel Villanueva also said that an impeachment court is still functional regardless if there are changes in members. He added that the vice president could question this before the Supreme Court, noting that the senators can discuss the matter next month. 'I think the SP is looking forward to having a caucus before the opening,' said Villanueva. — Vince Angelo Ferreras/BM, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
SWS: 93% VP Sara should prioritize country's needs
Ninety-three percent of registered Filipino voters are of the opinion that Vice President Sara Duterte should 'collaboratively work to prioritize the nation's needs,' the results of the Stratbase-SWS survey conducted from May 2 to 6 showed. The commissioned survey on Filipinos' post-election expectations conducted among 1,800 registered voters nationwide and with a margin of error of ±2.31%, showed that 88% think the Vice President should 'address the impeachment charges, answer all allegations pertaining to corruption, and clear her name.' Among those who believe Sara Duterte should prioritize the nation's needs, 74% believe she 'definitely should' while 19% think she 'probably should.' Among those who think she should answer the impeachment charges, 68% said she 'definitely should' while 20% said she 'probably should.' The other actions that the survey asked respondents whether the Vice President should do are the following: Focus on implementing her own platform and policies - 86% Continue her duties as Vice President and stop politicizing - 81% Step back from criticizing the government and its initiatives - 74% "Accountability is not an option. It is foundational to public trust. Prominent leaders like the Vice President should look past politics and personal interests, and respond to the people's call for transparency," Stratbase Institute president Dindo Manhit said of the survey results. "It is about time for her to answer all the allegations filed against her. After all, it's the Filipino people who our elected officials vowed to serve," he added in a statement. –NB, GMA Integrated News
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Spliced footage of Duterte-backed politician sparks turncoat claims
"Vic Rodriguez has defected, a former ally is now angry with the Dutertes," a narrator says in the video shared May 10, 2025 on Instagram. It appears to show lawyer Victor Rodriguez saying: "Let us also look for the billions of pesos Vice President Sara Duterte plundered from government funds. "Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. Vice President Sara Duterte will be impeached and removed from office." Tagalog-language text overlaid to the clip goes on to claim he said the vice president should be jailed. Rodriguez, a former executive secretary to President Ferdinand Marcos, unsuccessfully ran for senator in the mid-term vote largely defined by the explosive feud between the archipelago's two highest officials. The vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for "high crimes" including corruption and an alleged assassination plot against Marcos. Duterte's impeachment trial was a key talking point in the election which decided half the 24 senators who will serve as her jury (archived link). She needs nine votes for an acquittal. Losing would mean her removal and a permanent ban from public office but not imprisonment (archived link). Rodriguez threw his support behind Duterte after exiting the Marcos government less than three months into the new presidency in 2022 (archived link). Former president Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara both backed Rodriguez's failed Senate bid (archived here and here). The manipulated video first spread on TikTok in November 2024. It has been re-shared sporadically since, including on Facebook as a political advert in February. Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files has earlier debunked the posts. Keyword searches on Google found the original footage of Rodriguez, posted on his TikTok account on November 25, 2024, had the overlaid text "Protect VP Sara Duterte!" at the beginning of the video (archived link). This footage contained statements edited out in the circulating clip. "Let us also look for the billions of pesos plundered by the government, in particular, the over 500-billion-peso flood-control funds," Rodriguez can be heard saying. The statement appears to refer to a proposal for 10 infrastructure projects to manage flooding across the archipelago, written in a government document released after Marcos's State of the Nation Address in July 2024 (archived link). Rodriguez can also be heard saying, "Let us also protect Vice President Sara Duterte. Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. They will impeach Vice President Sara Duterte and remove her from office." In social media posts published on his Facebook and TikTok accounts in January and February, Rodriguez reiterated his "staunch support" for the Dutertes and labelled the clips as "fake" (archived here and here). "An edited video is circulating published by a troll account to share false information," his statement on January 27 read. "Don't believe this." AFP has debunked more misinformation on the election here.
AFP
2 days ago
- Politics
- AFP
Spliced footage of Duterte-backed politician sparks turncoat claims
"Vic Rodriguez has defected, a former ally is now angry with the Dutertes," a narrator says in the video shared May 10, 2025 on Instagram. It appears to show lawyer Victor Rodriguez saying: "Let us also look for the billions of pesos Vice President Sara Duterte plundered from government funds. "Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. Vice President Sara Duterte will be impeached and removed from office." Tagalog-language text overlaid to the clip goes on to claim he said the vice president should be jailed. Image Screenshot of altered video taken on May 26, 2025 Rodriguez, a former executive secretary to President Ferdinand Marcos, unsuccessfully ran for senator in the mid-term vote largely defined by the explosive feud between the archipelago's two highest officials. The vice president was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for "high crimes" including corruption and an alleged assassination plot against Marcos. Duterte's impeachment trial was a key talking point in the election which decided half the 24 senators who will serve as her jury (archived link). She needs nine votes for an acquittal. Losing would mean her removal and a permanent ban from public office but not imprisonment (archived link). Rodriguez threw his support behind Duterte after exiting the Marcos government less than three months into the new presidency in 2022 (archived link). Former president Rodrigo Duterte and daughter Sara both backed Rodriguez's failed Senate bid (archived here and here). The manipulated video first spread on TikTok in November 2024. It has been re-shared sporadically since, including on Facebook as a political advert in February. Philippine fact-checking organisation Vera Files has earlier debunked the posts. Keyword searches on Google found the original footage of Rodriguez, posted on his TikTok account on November 25, 2024, had the overlaid text "Protect VP Sara Duterte!" at the beginning of the video (archived link). This footage contained statements edited out in the circulating clip. "Let us also look for the billions of pesos plundered by the government, in particular, the over 500-billion-peso flood-control funds," Rodriguez can be heard saying. The statement appears to refer to a proposal for 10 infrastructure projects to manage flooding across the archipelago, written in a government document released after Marcos's State of the Nation Address in July 2024 (). Rodriguez can also be heard saying, "Let us also protect Vice President Sara Duterte. Because you heard it from me and I'll say it again. They will impeach Vice President Sara Duterte and remove her from office." Image Screenshot comparison of the spliced footage (left) and the original clip (right) In social media posts published on his Facebook and TikTok accounts in January and February, Rodriguez reiterated his "staunch support" for the Dutertes and labelled the clips as "fake" (archived here and here). "An edited video is circulating published by a troll account to share false information," his statement on January 27 read. "Don't believe this." AFP has debunked more misinformation on the election here.
