The Philippines is facing a political crisis that goes far beyond the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. As the country deals with severe flooding, a corruption scandal involving billions of pesos in flood-control projects and an increasingly bitter dispute between two of its most powerful political families, Duterte’s second impeachment has become one part of a broader debate over power, corruption and accountability.
A second impeachment for Sara Duterte
On May 11, 2026, the Philippine House of Representatives voted 257–25, with nine abstentions, to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for the second time. The vote was well above the constitutional threshold of one-third of the House. The Articles of Impeachment were then sent to the Senate for trial.
Duterte faces allegations involving the alleged misuse of confidential government funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, graft and corruption. She has also been accused of making threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez. Duterte has denied the accusations.
The case is particularly significant because it is the second time Duterte has faced impeachment proceedings. The first process, approved by the House in February 2025, did not reach a Senate trial. In July 2025, the Supreme Court declared the Articles of Impeachment unconstitutional, and in January 2026 it upheld that decision, citing the constitutional one-year rule and due-process concerns. This time, however, the case moved forward. The Senate began preparing to act as an impeachment court, with the trial scheduled to begin in July.
Among the accusations receiving attention is Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds during her time as vice president and secretary of education. Prosecutors have presented documentary evidence concerning the spending, while her defense has challenged evidence and raised questions involving bank secrecy laws.
Another major accusation concerns alleged threats against Marcos and members of his family. The prosecution has argued that Duterte’s statements constituted serious threats, while her defense has characterized them as protected speech. The proceedings have therefore become more than a legal dispute and turned into a political confrontation between two camps that were once allies.
From allies to rivals
The roots of the current crisis go back to the 2022 presidential election, when Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Sara Duterte ran together as president and vice president. Their alliance brought together two of the Philippines’ most influential political dynasties.
Marcos is the son and namesake of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr., whose regime ruled the Philippines under martial law for over a decade. Sara Duterte is the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, whose political base was built around his years as mayor of Davao City and later his presidency.
The partnership, however, deteriorated after they took office. Disagreements over political priorities, control of government and the future of the country gradually turned the two families from allies into rivals. Sara Duterte’s impeachment is now one of the most visible consequences of that political rupture, with implications for the balance of political power ahead of the 2028 elections.
When flooding became a political issue
While the impeachment trial has received significant attention, another crisis has increasingly dominated public debate: flooding.
On August 17, heavy rains brought by the southwest monsoon, locally known as Habagat, flooded parts of Manila and other areas of Luzon. Roads were submerged and water entered homes, in some cases rising as high as the second floor. “The water rose so fast”, resident Jerome Valencia, 26, told Reuters, describing the moments after the storm hit.The floods also brought renewed attention to a much larger infrastructure scandal. For years, the Philippine government has invested billions of pesos in projects intended to prevent or reduce flooding. But investigations have uncovered allegations that some projects were overpriced, poorly constructed or never completed.
The issue is not only whether public money was improperly spent, but whether money intended to protect communities from disasters was diverted while people were still being left vulnerable to them. Authorities have been investigating thousands of flood-control projects, while allegations have involved politicians, contractors and government officials. In September, the scandal reached one of Marcos’ closest political allies.
The corruption scandal reaches Marcos’ inner circle
On September 7, former House Speaker Martin Romualdez was arrested after the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan issued a warrant in connection with a ₱7.4 billion plunder case involving alleged kickbacks from flood-control and other government projects. Romualdez, who is Marcos’ cousin and former political ally, has denied the allegations.
According to the Office of the Ombudsman, Romualdez and three other respondents allegedly received kickbacks connected to government projects between 2022 and 2025. The broader investigation involves thousands of flood-control projects, many of which investigators have described as substandard, overpriced or unimplemented. Romualdez pleaded not guilty on September 16. The case is still ongoing, meaning the allegations against him have not been established as facts in court.
His arrest has nevertheless become politically significant. Marcos has publicly promised to pursue those responsible for irregularities in flood-control projects, and Romualdez’s position within the president’s political network has made the case particularly consequential for the administration.
The scandal has also fueled public frustration over the government’s management of disaster-prevention funds. During the floods, images of submerged streets and homes offered a stark contrast to the enormous sums allocated to infrastructure intended to prevent precisely these conditions.
A political crisis beyond the impeachment
The flood-control scandal has changed the context surrounding Duterte’s impeachment. Instead of remaining solely a dispute over the vice president’s alleged misconduct, the impeachment is unfolding alongside a broader public debate over corruption, government spending and political accountability.
The proposed 2027 national budget includes ₱107.4 billion, for flood-control projects, a sharp reversal after funding for such projects was cut entirely from the 2026 budget in the wake of the scandal. The increase has intensified pressure on the government to ensure that new allocations are monitored more effectively while investigations into previous projects continue.
The Duterte family faces pressure on multiple fronts
Sara Duterte’s impeachment is also taking place alongside legal proceedings against her father, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is facing the International Criminal Court over alleged crimes against humanity linked to his administration’s anti-drug campaign.
In September 2026, he made his first in-person appearance before ICC judges, attending a pretrial hearing focused on scheduling and evidence disclosure ahead of a trial set to begin on November 30. His defense has argued he is unfit to stand trial , while prosecutors allege that his anti-drug campaign was responsible for widespread killings.
The simultaneous legal battles involving father and daughter have increased the pressure on the Duterte family while keeping the political conflict between the two dynasties in the national spotlight.
What happens in the Senate?
After the House approved the impeachment, the case moved to the Senate, whose members serve as judges during an impeachment trial.
The Senate has undergone changes of its own during the process. Alan Peter Cayetano, who was considered close to the Duterte family, briefly served as Senate president after the impeachment reached the chamber. In June, however, Sherwin Gatchalian became Senate president and has since overseen preparations for the trial. Under Senate rules, the Senate president generally presides over impeachment proceedings unless the chamber decides otherwise. By September, Gatchalian said a verdict could still be reached before December as the Senate considered a tighter timetable for the proceedings.
A conviction could remove Duterte from office and disqualify her from holding public office in the future. That could have major consequences for the 2028 elections, when Marcos will be constitutionally barred from seeking a second consecutive presidential term. But the outcome of the trial remains undecided.
More than one family feud
The Philippines’ current political crisis is therefore being shaped by several conflicts at once: Sara Duterte’s impeachment, the political breakdown between the Marcos and Duterte families, the flood-control corruption investigation and growing frustration over the government’s ability to prevent corruption and protect communities from disasters.
The flooding has made the consequences of those institutional problems particularly visible. For residents whose homes and streets were submerged, debates over government spending are not abstract political disputes. They are connected to whether infrastructure works, whether public resources reach the communities that need them and whether those responsible for failures are held accountable.
Sara Duterte’s impeachment may ultimately be decided by the Senate. But the political crisis surrounding it is much larger than the future of one vice president.
At stake are not only the relationship between two political families, but also questions about how power, public money and accountability operate in the Philippines, and whether the country’s institutions can respond to those questions while public trust continues to be tested.
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The article above was edited by Nina Simonetti.
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