Palace on VP impeach rap: It’s about accountability
From saying in 2024 that impeaching Vice President Sara Duterte would be a “waste of time” and he wasn’t supporting it, President Marcos appears to have had a change of heart and is now open to letting the process play out.
Following news that a fresh impeachment complaint will be filed in the House of Representatives against Duterte, Palace press officer Claire Castro on Monday said the President’s view was that the move against the Vice President should be treated similarly to how the government investigates the flood control mess.
“The President only said that the impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara would be treated the same way as discussions and investigations into the anomalous flood control projects,” she told reporters in a briefing.
“It means that whoever should be held accountable should be made accountable. That’s the President’s order. There should be no exceptions,” she said.
Asked what made the President change his stance, Castro said, “It may be that the extent of the issue at that time was not yet fully seen or understood.”
‘Not important’
In late November 2024 following the breakup of Duterte’s political alliance with the administration, Mr. Marcos told reporters that he opposed the plan of some members of the Lower House to impeach Duterte, saying the highly polarizing political process would not benefit the Filipino people.
“This is not important. This does not make any difference to even one single Filipino life. So, why waste time on this? None of this will help improve a single Filipino life,” he said.
Several House lawmakers, particularly members of the Makabayan bloc, are set to refile and endorse the impeachment complaint to the House justice committee next month as the one-year ban on Duterte’s impeachment lapses on Feb. 6.
But this time, Malacañang said that if lawmakers have the evidence against Duterte, they should proceed with the filing, and “the President will not interfere with their mandate.”
Castro said Mr. Marcos would allow the impeachment process to take its course “and whatever outcome emerges in accordance with the law and proper procedure will be supported by the President.”
She also expressed hope that the legislators hearing the new impeachment complaint “will think about the interest of the people, not the interests of the individuals they idolize.”
Complaint vs Marcos?
The President himself may be facing impeachment raps, after Senior House Deputy Minority Leader Rep. Edgar Erice said on Sunday that some lawmakers were planning to file a complaint against Mr. Marcos for “betrayal of public trust,” among others.
Specifically, these lawmakers want to impeach Mr. Marcos for allegedly being complicit in the budget insertions made by Cabinet members and congressional allies and for enacting corruption-riddled budget laws from 2023 to 2025.
He also revealed that some “pro-Vice President” groups had called to ask him if he could endorse an impeachment complaint against the President.
To this, Castro said Mr. Marcos is ready for any such complaint that may be thrown at him, and that he believes members of Congress still trust him.
“The President is prepared for any situation because he respects the Constitution and respects due process,” said Castro.
“But if we are talking about a breach of public trust, which has been mentioned in relation to the alleged signing of the GAA (General Appropriations Act)—first of all, the President did not steal any money. Second, he is the one ordering investigations into anomalous flood control projects that may have been a source of corruption. And third, he does not have any ‘Mary Grace Piattos,’” she added, referring to one of the names uncovered in House hearings as allegedly fictitious beneficiaries of the confidential funds released to the Office of the Vice President.
“At present, the President remains confident that lawmakers also continue to trust him, because the President is not committing any wrongdoing. In fact, he was the one who protected the 2025 budget in particular,” Castro said.
Archived complaint
In December 2024, four impeachment complaints were filed against the Vice President.
The fourth complaint led to Duterte’s impeachment in the House—the first time the second highest official of the Philippines was formally charged with a serious breach of the Constitution.
Crossing party lines, 215 House members voted to approve the articles of impeachment.
Duterte was accused of culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust, and other high crimes, including her alleged misuse of up to P612.5 million in confidential funds assigned to her office and the Department of Education, which she headed in a concurrent position, from 2022 to 2023.
The approved articles of impeachment were then transmitted to the Senate for the conduct of the trial. But senators led by then Senate President Francis Escudero sat on the impeachment articles.
In August 2025, the Senate voted 19–4, with one abstention, to archive the impeachment articles following the Supreme Court’s ruling that declared the complaint unconstitutional.
