KUALA LUMPUR – President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. doesn’t believe that the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will cause trouble or chaos in the country.
President Marcos talked to reporters from the Philippines while he was attending a big meeting of Asian leaders called the ASEAN Summit. A reporter asked him, “Will the impeachment trial cause problems for the country?”
The President calmly said, “I don’t think so.” He explained that the people in the Senate and the House of Representatives—which are two big groups of lawmakers in the Philippines—will be the ones to decide what happens next.
He also made it clear that he didn’t want the impeachment to happen in the first place. “I’ve been saying over and over that I didn’t want anyone to be impeached,” he said.
President Marcos said that the people who started the impeachment case were not his allies. He explained that he had no control over who filed the complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.
“I keep having to explain that I had nothing to do with this,” he added.
Now that the impeachment case has passed through the House of Representatives, Marcos said the next step is for the Senate to handle the trial. He said we should just let the process continue normally.
What is Impeachment?
Impeachment is when important leaders like the Vice President are accused of doing very bad things and might lose their job. They go on trial, kind of like in court, to see if they are guilty or not.
Why Was Sara Duterte Impeached?
On February 5, the House of Representatives—where many lawmakers work—voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte. More than 200 lawmakers agreed to start the impeachment.
She was accused of serious things like:
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Betraying the people’s trust
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Breaking the Constitution
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Stealing or being corrupt
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Committing “high crimes”
What Did Sara Duterte Say?
Vice President Sara Duterte is ready to fight. She said she’s looking forward to her impeachment trial in the next Congress meeting, which is called the 20th Congress.
She even said she expects it to be a “bloodbath”—which means she thinks it’s going to be a tough and serious battle. Her team of lawyers is working very hard to defend her.
What Happens Next?
The next big step is the reading of the Articles of Impeachment. This is when the charges are formally read out loud. That will happen on June 2.
