Philippines’ Sara Duterte wants to stand impeachment trial so she can see ‘bloodbath’

The vice-president will be tried by the 24-member Senate, made up of at least four senators she endorsed in the midterm election

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio wants her impeachment trial to go ahead, days after her allies outperformed at the midterm election that could add to her bloc of supporters in the Senate.

Duterte-Carpio said her lawyers’ preparations were in “full throttle” for the impeachment trial. “I truly want a trial because I want a bloodbath,” she told reporters on Saturday.

She was impeached by the House of Representatives in February for her alleged death threat against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and misusing public funds, accusations she denies.

She will now be tried by the Senate, which is scheduled for July, when the country’s new Congress convenes.

Her latest comments come after at least four of the candidates she endorsed won in the country’s 12-seat Senate race on May 12, multiple surveys had indicated. A fifth candidate – who was part of the Marcos slate, but who also sought Duterte-Carpio’s backing – also won.

They will all be jurors when the 24-member chamber begins Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial.

Duterte-Carpio said she was “already at peace” whether the trial led to a conviction or acquittal, and that it was too early to guess how the senators would vote.

At least two-thirds of the Senate must vote to convict her, a move which would remove Duterte-Carpio from public office and bar her from holding any government position.

Marcos and Duterte-Carpio ran on a joint ticket in the 2022 presidential election. But their relationship crumbled over differences in policy, including Marcos’ earlier push to change the constitution which her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, saw as a strategy to keep him in office. Philippine leaders are limited to a single six-year term.

The ties between the nation’s two highest officials reached their lowest point in March after Marcos allowed the arrest and transfer of the senior Duterte to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands for crimes against humanity during his drug war that killed thousands.

“The impeachment is a glorified disqualification case against me,” the vice-president said, referring to the 2028 presidential race. Surveys indicate she is a top contender in the polls. “These individuals are desperate.”

She reiterated that she would decide in December next year whether she would be running in 2028.