Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte struck a defiant tone on Tuesday, making a brief appearance at the Senate and declaring herself “bloodied but unbowed” shortly before her impeachment trial resumed. The trial, now on its second day, could determine whether she can run for president in 2028.
Prosecution Alleges Threats Against Marcos
Prosecutors focused on allegations that Duterte threatened the lives of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. Duterte, who wore a green polo shirt closely associated with her political brand, told reporters before meeting her legal team, “In this bloodbath and bludgeoning, I will be bloodied but unbowed.” She did not attend the proceedings, letting her counsel represent her instead.
The vice president, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte—now detained in The Hague facing trial over his deadly “war on drugs”—denies wrongdoing and has described the impeachment as politically motivated. A conviction requires at least 16 of the Senate’s 24 members to vote in favor.
Video Clips Shown in Court
Prosecutor Lorenz Defensor argued that Duterte’s remarks went beyond ordinary criminal conduct and amounted to a violation of the Constitution. The prosecution called a National Bureau of Investigation official as its first witness to authenticate video clips showing Duterte making violent remarks. One clip from October 2024 showed her saying she wanted to behead Marcos. Another from a November 2024 press conference replayed her saying she had instructed an assassin to kill Marcos, the first lady, and Romualdez if anything happened to her.
“I have talked to a person. I said, ‘if I get killed, go kill BBM (Marcos), Liza Araneta and Martin Romualdez.’ No joke, no joke,” Duterte said in the video. “I said, ‘do not stop until you kill them’.”
Significance of the Allegations
Defensor emphasized that the alleged threats carried particular weight because they came from the country’s second-highest elected official and constitutional successor to the president. “What makes these threats especially sinister is that they do not come from an ordinary citizen, but from the vice president herself,” he told senator-judges. “Her words were neither accidental nor taken out of context. They were uttered publicly with the intention to be taken seriously.”
The allegation is among several in the impeachment complaint, which also accuses Duterte of misusing public funds, amassing unexplained wealth, bribery, and corruption. Marcos and Duterte, scions of two of the Philippines’ most powerful political dynasties, won the 2022 election on a joint ticket but their alliance later collapsed into a bitter feud. The defense has argued that the impeachment seeks to overturn the mandate of a vice president elected by more than 32 million Filipinos.
