Thousands call for impeachment of Philippines Vice President Sara Duterte

The impeachment of vice president Sara Duterte has been met with thousands of protesters in Manila.

In the capital, demonstrators chanted “Impeach!” while holding placards demanding Duterte’s removal. Impeach Sara now”! as they gathered on Friday morning. About 4, 000 people took part in the rally, police said, with authorities deploying 7, 400 riot police.

A conservative sect that opposes the impeachment demands made in December held a larger rally earlier this month.

Duterte is the subject of three impeachment allegations stemming from her alleged misuse of millions of dollars spent on government programs while serving as president Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Just before the midterm elections in May, Congress adjourns the week before the deadline for legislation.

House of Representatives member Percival Cendana, who backs one of the impeachment complaints, pressed his colleagues to move fast. Every day of inaction “condones the impunity, the abuse of power and the harassment that Duterte is doing to our country’s leaders”, he told reporters.

A third of the House of Representatives members will support an impeachment, and a Senate vote will determine the removal of an impeached official.

“The Filipino people are here, ready to stand for truth and justice. Let’s not fail them”, Cendana said.

Questions have been raised about whether Congress is willing to take action on the complaints since the pro-Duterte rally, which was attended by an estimated 1.5 million people.

The legislative body is awaiting a potential fourth complaint before referring them to the speaker, according to the House Secretary General.

The 46-year-old vice president, who is estranged from Marcos but remains his constitutional successor in case he is unable to perform his duties, has denied the allegations against her, calling them&nbsp, politically motivated.

Since her public split with Marcos Jr last year, she had threatened the president, the first lady and the speaker with assassination.

She had previously told people that she sometimes thought she might behead Marcos because of how toxic her relationship with him had become.

When Duterte and Marcos ran separately for the national elections in 2022, they used a platform of unity.

Duterte is the daughter of Marcos’s predecessor, &nbsp, Rodrigo Duterte, who is notorious for his crude language and a controversial war on drugs that is&nbsp, under investigation by the International Criminal Court.

Marcos himself has urged Congress not to pursue Duterte’s impeachment, calling it a “storm in a teacup” that would distract the legislature from its primary responsibilities.