The Philippines Senate is sending the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte back to the House. This surprise move could allow her to survive the impeachment while raising her political profile ahead of the 2028 presidential election, says University of Santo Tomas Professor Dennis Coronacion.
00:00In the Philippines, the impeachment trial against the vice president now seems to be in limbo.
00:05The country's Senate voted to send back the impeachment complaint against Sarah Duterte to the House of Representatives.
00:12The lower house, which impeached Duterte in February, is accusing her of several charges, including misusing public funds.
00:19If convicted, she could be removed from her post and permanently banned from seeking office, derailing potential plans to run for president in 2028.
00:28The Senate says it wants to clear up any questions on the legality of the impeachment complaint before the formal trial begins.
00:38For more on the impeachment trial, Alec McDonald spoke to Dennis Coronashan, a professor of political science at the University of Santo Thomas in Manila.
00:48With the Philippine Senate sending this impeachment case back to the House, does that mean that the Senate is essentially rejecting this impeachment trial?
00:56So there is the possibility, there's a possibility that it might be dismissed.
01:03Actually, the voting yesterday would be a prelude.
01:08I consider that as a prelude.
01:10Future voting regarding the impeachment of the vice president.
01:14So, but, of course, if the senators would like to see to it, that the constitutional infirmity that was raised by one of the senators regarding the impeachment complaint would have to be cured before they even start with the impeachment trial.
01:30It's possible that it would result in, you know, dismissal, actual dismissal of the impeachment complaint.
01:39Was Sarah Duterte positioning herself to be a presidential candidate in 2028 or the long and short-term political implications?
01:46Yeah, I think almost everyone here is expecting that the vice president is going to run as a presidential candidate come 2028.
01:57Now, the impeachment, the outcome of this impeachment trial or process is going to have a huge impact on the vice president's political fortune.
02:09Should she be able to survive this impeachment complaint process?
02:15I think it would make her a very formidable candidate.
02:18Yesterday's voting by the senators, you know, it shows us that the senators have so much respect for the vice president, or if not respect, fear, because of what her family has done in the mid-term elections.
02:33How has the public been reacting over the past few days to these developments?
02:37The Filipinos are quite divided when it comes to the impeachment trial and when it comes to how the government has been treating the Duterte family.
02:48I think a great majority of the Filipinos still show their support to the Duterte family and even sympathize with the former president and also the vice president.
03:03So they, you know, they tend to believe the narratives that the Duterte family has been telling the public that what they're going through is political persecution.
03:14That narrative has gained traction, and it was shown during the last mid-term election.
03:19They continue to be popular even until now, despite all the issues that they have gone through.
03:26That was Dennis Coronachan from the University of Santo-Thomas.
03:32So obviously, we can have a lot of people trying to answer questions about this.
03:32So, I was going to say, I'm going to ask you to ask you to come back to this.
03:33But I'm going to say, I'm going to ask you, I'll ask you, if you can say, I just look into them now.
03:33And then, I'll ask you to share what I want to say.
03:34And then, we'll ask you, if you, if you're going to ask them.
03:36Then, you're going to ask them for the next steps.
03:38Well, as you may be wondering, as you may be about, that I think you're going through the next step,
03:40and I'm going to ask you, I'll ask you to, help you, you know?
03:42I can't help you.
03:42It's not helping you answer your own game of this.
