Impeached Twice: Sara Duterte Faces a Senate Trial That Could End Her 2028 Run

The Philippines has entered uncharted constitutional territory. On 11 May 2026, the House of Representatives voted 257-25, with 9 abstentions, to impeach Vice-President Sara Duterte for a second time, making her the first official in the country's history to be impeached twice, according to Philstar and the Philippine News Agency. A week later, on 18 May, the Senate convened as an impeachment court, opening a trial whose outcome could decide whether the 47-year-old can run for president in 2028.

A dynastic feud at the heart of it

The case is the latest rupture in a once-powerful alliance. Sara Duterte, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, ran as Marcos's running mate in 2022 in a so-called "UniTeam" landslide. The partnership collapsed: she resigned from the Cabinet in 2024 and, as France 24 reported, on 18 February 2026 she declared a 2028 presidential bid, accusing Marcos of dishonesty. The feud sharpened further when the International Criminal Court pursued her father over his deadly drug war, leaving the Marcos and Duterte camps locked in open political warfare.

The charges

The House transmitted four articles of impeachment. They allege that Duterte misused P612.5 million (roughly $10 million) in confidential funds while serving as vice-president and education secretary, that she bribed officials to bypass procurement rules, amassed unexplained wealth, and plotted to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez assassinated should she herself be killed, per Rappler. The confidential-funds figure breaks down as roughly P500 million from the Office of the Vice-President and P112.5 million from the education department. Duterte denies wrongdoing and calls the case politically motivated.

How impeachment works in the Philippines

Under Article XI of the 1987 Constitution, the process splits across two chambers. The House impeaches by a one-third vote, in effect filing the charges; the Senate tries the official, sitting as an impeachment court. Conviction requires a two-thirds vote, meaning 16 of the 24 senators must agree. A guilty verdict removes the official and can bar them from any future public office for life, as Al Jazeera notes. The bar is high by design, and the Dutertes hold more allies in the Senate than in the House.

Why the first attempt failed

This is not a continuation of an earlier conviction effort but a fresh one. The House first impeached Duterte in February 2025, but the Supreme Court voided those articles on 25 July 2025, ruling they breached the Constitution's one-year bar on multiple impeachment proceedings and violated due process; the court affirmed that decision with finality on 28 January 2026. The Senate never reached a verdict on the merits. The one-year clock expired in early February 2026, clearing the way for the renewed complaints that produced the May vote.

Chaos in the chamber

The trial opened against a violent backdrop. Between 11 and 13 May, the surprise return of Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa, the former police chief sought by the ICC over drug-war killings, triggered a standoff as National Bureau of Investigation agents tried to serve an arrest warrant. Gunfire, mostly warning shots, broke out inside the Senate's premises, as CNN reported. Dela Rosa's reappearance also helped install Duterte loyalist Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, replacing Vicente Sotto, raising fresh doubts about how the trial will proceed.

What happens next, and the 2028 stakes

Presiding over the court, Cayetano declared the trial open on 18 May and gave Duterte 10 days to respond to the charges. The trial proper is scheduled to begin on 6 July 2026. The stakes are stark: a conviction would not only strip Duterte of the vice-presidency but bar her permanently from public office, closing the door on the presidency she has openly sought. An acquittal, or a failure to muster 16 votes, would leave her wounded but eligible, and almost certainly a leading contender in 2028. With allies controlling key Senate posts, many analysts doubt the chamber can reach the two-thirds threshold, setting up a trial that is as much about raw political arithmetic as about the evidence.

A test for Philippine institutions

Beyond the personalities, the proceedings amount to a stress test for the country's checks and balances. The Supreme Court has already intervened once to halt an earlier attempt, and the new trial unfolds under a Senate leadership reshaped in the Dutertes' favour during the same chaotic week the charges arrived. Watchdog groups warn that the spectacle, from the procurement allegations to the assassination claims and the gunfire at the Senate, risks deepening public cynicism about whether the powerful are ever truly held to account. For ordinary Filipinos, the more concrete question is whether P612.5 million in public money was spent as claimed, and whether the constitutional machinery built to answer that can still function when two of the nation's most powerful dynasties are pulling in opposite directions.