MANILA, Philippines — Something very serious is happening in the Philippine government. The Senate, which is like a group of leaders who help make big decisions for the country, will meet on June 3 to begin a special court called an impeachment court. This court will decide if Vice President Sara Duterte should keep her job or be removed.
Back in February, the House of Representatives (another group of leaders) said that Vice President Duterte did some very bad things called “high crimes.” These include corruption (which means using power to do illegal things for money) and even a very scary thing — planning to hurt or possibly kill President Ferdinand Marcos, who used to be her teammate in the 2022 elections.
The leader of the Senate, Francis Escudero, said the full trial will happen after the new senators start their jobs in July. But before that, the Senate will officially become an impeachment court on June 3 at 9 a.m. They will start by listening to all the charges or accusations against Duterte.
In a letter to House Speaker Martin Romualdez, Escudero said the Senate is ready. He reminded them that the House prosecutors (the people who will argue why she should be removed) will read seven charges out loud. After that, the court will be fully active, and the process of the trial will begin.
Here’s how the trial works:
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The Senate has 24 members.
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To stay in her job, Vice President Duterte needs at least 9 senators to vote “not guilty.”
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If she loses the trial, she will not only lose her job but also be banned from running for public office forever.
This impeachment has been a hot topic during the recent May 12 elections, where people voted for half of the Senate seats. The results looked good for Duterte, because one of her supporters surprisingly won a seat. On the other hand, the team of President Marcos didn’t do as well as expected.
Duterte and Marcos used to be allies, meaning they worked together when they both won their elections in 2022. But their friendship fell apart quickly. Things got even worse when Vice President Duterte was impeached, and when her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, was arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Netherlands. He is facing very serious charges there because of the deadly “drug war” that happened when he was president.
After the elections, President Marcos said in a podcast interview that he was open to making peace with the Duterte family. But he also said that he was not involved in the impeachment. He said, “Let’s leave that to the Senate.”
So far, the office of Vice President Duterte has not answered questions from the news.
