Defense Begins in Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial Over Wealth Allegations
Lawyers for Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte opened their defense on Monday against allegations of unexplained wealth, marking a critical turn in an impeachment trial that threatens her 2028 presidential ambitions. Philippine lawmakers, financial officials, and political analysts are watching the proceedings closely as the defense presents the first of 24 scheduled witnesses.
Prosecutors rested their case last month after dropping three of the initial four charges, misusing public funds, bribery, and threatening the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first lady, and a former House Speaker, to expedite the timeline. The narrowed focus centers entirely on Duterte’s asset declarations and business interests. During nearly four months of testimony, a forensic financial analyst told the tribunal that Duterte could hold more than 800 million pesos ($12.70 million) in unexplained assets. Duterte has rejected the claims, dismissing the proceedings as political harassment and denying all wrongdoing.
The trial unfolds under a uniquely revised Senate voting threshold. Following a ruling in September, the number of votes required to convict was lowered from 16 to 14 out of 24 senators because four senator-judges are sidelined by separate legal actions. Those sidelined cases include a multi-billion-dollar public works scandal and an International Criminal Court investigation into the “war on drugs” led by her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.
A conviction would remove Duterte from office and permanently bar her from holding public office, derailing her status as the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential succession and reshaping the political fallout from the collapse of the 2022 alliance between the Duterte and Marcos families. The last senatorial impeachment trial in 2012 resulted in the conviction of then Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.
