In the latest episode of her seemingly recurring outbursts, Vice President Sara Duterte defied the House of Representatives, made death threats against the first couple and went on a profanity-laden rant against the President and House Speaker all in one night.
This chain of events started when Duterte’s chief-of-staff, Zuleika Lopez, appeared before the House Quad-Committee inquiry into the Office of the Vice President’s (OVP) anomalous spending. Lopez was deemed as being evasive when interpellated by members of the Quad-Comm, which led to her being cited in contempt and held in custody by the House.
Duterte visited her top staff member in detention on Friday, 22 November and was allowed to stay until 10 p.m. – slightly longer than usual visiting hours which the House granted as courtesy to the Vice President. Despite the deference accorded to her, “Inday Sara” still proceeded to flout House protocols by insisting on being with Lopez overnight – a violation of the lower chamber’s rules.
Undeterred by the House Sergeant-at-Arms’ order for her to leave the premises, the Vice President ran to her brother – Davao 1st district Rep. Paolo Duterte – for help instead. The latter granted his sister permission to stay in his office at the House of Representatives “indefinitely”, despite this again falling outside what is permissible under the House’s rules.
In an effort to make the nation’s second highest-ranking official leave their premises, the House panel on good governance decided to transfer Lopez to the Women’s Correctional Facility in Mandaluyong City instead. With the threat of moving her staffer into a women’s-only prison, the House had hoped that this would make VP Duterte depart from Lopez at last.
Yet in a bizarre but unexpected twist, Duterte’s camp declared that Lopez was experiencing a medical emergency and had to be moved to hospital instead. The ensuing sage turned chaotic, as the Vice President “directly obstructed” Lopez’s transfer to the women’s penitentiary; insisting that her chief-of-staff be brought to a hospital despite medical experts coming to the conclusion that Lopez was merely suffering from a panic attack.
Even the choice of hospital where Lopez would be brought for medical attention was challenged by Duterte, insisting that Lopez be taken to the privately-run St. Luke’s Medical Centre rather than the government-owned Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC) – as what House protocol indicates in relation to medical emergencies.
At around midnight on 23 November, Duterte organized a virtual press conference with members of the media to address the situation and air her sentiments. In what will now be remembered as one of the most sensational meltdowns of any public figure in Philippines history, the Vice President unleashed a vulgar tirade against House Speaker Martin Romualdez, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos (LAM), and the president himself, Sara Duterte’s running-mate during the 2022 presidential election – Bongbong Marcos.
Duterte made the same accusations she has made previously against the trio in her past public statements: that there is an organized campaign to destroy her name as Romualdez is seeking the presidency at the 2028 presidential election. She also alleged that the First Lady is behind the scheme of handing out cash envelopes to Department of Education (DepEd) officials, a controversy that is now hounding Duterte’s reputation as the former agency secretary.
Yet undoubtedly, the most consequential allegation from Duterte’s outburst was when she accused Romualdez of plotting to have her killed. In response to this supposed threat to her life, the Vice President divulged that she has already contracted an assassin to also kill the House Speaker, the First Lady, and even President Marcos himself.
Removing any suspicion that her statement was merely a Duterte-style hyperbolic statement meant in jest, the Vice President then said, “No joke, no joke.” The unambiguity in Duterte’s language meant her statement could only be categorized into one thing: an active threat against the sitting president of the Republic.
That is exactly how law enforcement authorities treated VP Duterte’s pronouncements. Within 24 hours, no less than the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) began a probe on this publicized threat – acting under orders from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
By stating that it was not a joke, she also negated her own ability to backtrack on her statements or characterize them as hyperbole or a figure of speech. It is an offence that could lead to her prosecution, but at the very least it leaves the Vice President wide open to impeachment proceedings.
As political observers will attest, impeachment is won or lost by the number of allies you have in Congress. Sara Duterte’s latest outburst, which almost certainly will have criminal implications, will also relegate the Vice President to being a political outcast – alienating fence-sitters who were hedging their bets on her while also making it awkward for her own allies to defend her.
On the other side of the divide, Duterte’s political opponents will only be more emboldened to go after her with impeachment complaints. Even external organizations have sounded off their support for the possible impeachment of the Vice President: with a teachers’ group backing the potential motion due to Duterte’s anomalous transactions at the DepEd, and the League of Cities of the Philippines (LCP) also hitting out at the violent tirades of the nation’s second highest official.
It should also be remembered that the 2025 budget for the OVP is still under deliberation in Congress, with the House inflicting a substantial reduction to the figure initially proposed by Duterte’s office. The Vice President is relying on the upper chamber, the Senate, to restore this funding cut which seemingly looked like it had a chance with several senators purportedly supportive of the reinstatement.
However, after VP Duterte’s much-publicized meltdown it is highly improbable seeing the same number of senators continuing to support the full budget. Even if Inday Sara gets off scot-free in terms of impeachment complaints, she has also nullified any hope she had of a substantial budget at her OVP with her latest antic.
There can be no certainty as to how events will transpire and what consequences there will be after her display, but if Sara Duterte found the last few months tumultuous she has only made things even harder for herself with her meltdown. And while we won’t know exactly what will happen, it is safe to say that it can only be downhill from here for the Vice President who was once touted as the frontrunner for the presidency come 2028 election.