Philippine Senators Send VP Duterte Impeachment Case Back To House

Manila: The Philippine Senate voted Tuesday to send the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte back to the House of Representatives, a decision one senator called a "functional dismissal".

Duterte was charged by the House in early February on charges including graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally and former running mate President Ferdinand Marcos.

A conviction, which requires the support of two-thirds of the body's 24 members, would mean her removal as vice president and a permanent ban from public office.

Tuesday's 18-5 decision came just hours after senators had taken their oaths as jurors and followed days of wrangling that had raised fears the trial process might be derailed.

Duterte is widely expected to run for president in 2028, a possibility with deep implications for the political futures of the senators tasked with deciding her fate.

Senator Ronald dela Rosa, former national police chief and enforcer of ex-president Rodrigo Duterte's drug war, on Tuesday introduced a motion to dismiss the impeachment case against the former leader's daughter.

Dela Rosa argued that earlier complaints filed against Duterte in the House, which did not make it past the committee level, had constituted impeachment proceedings, something banned under the Philippine constitution.

The motion was later amended in favour of sending the case back to the House, which must now certify that it did not violate the constitution and that it remains willing to prosecute the case when its new members take their seats on June 30.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, who opposed the motion, warned that sending the case back to the House was an abrogation of responsibility that could see it ultimately disappear.

"Remanding is a functional dismissal," she said.

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