SEOUL, South Korea — In a political-legal battle that is consuming the Philippines — and likely being closely watched by the U.S. State Department — the impeachment trial of Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte got underway in Manila on Monday.
Open enmity exists between Ms. Duterte, 48, and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., 68, both scions of powerful political dynasties: Hers in the country’s south, his in the north.
Mr. Marcos is constitutionally barred from serving more than a single six-year term in Malacanang Palace. In February, Ms. Duterte announced her intention to run in the next presidential race in 2028.
If impeached, she will be barred from politics.
Much is also at stake for U.S. regional security policy.
Mr. Marcos reversed the actions of his predecessor, former President Rodrigo Duterte, who saw the Philippines pivot away from Washington and toward Beijing.
Mr. Duterte, 81, is Ms. Duterte’s father.
U.S. defense pundits are convinced that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants his forces to be capable of invading Taiwan by 2027. The Philippines forms a de facto bastion off Taiwan’s southwestern flank.
Political battle royale
Ms. Duterte faces charges of misusing public funds, amassing unexplained wealth and threatening to hire assassins to kill Mr. Marcos and his wife.
She says the impeachment process is politically motivated and insists her stated threats to the Marcoses were not meant to be taken literally.
Neither Ms. Duterte nor Mr. Marcos appeared on Day 1 of the proceedings, held at Manila’s Senate Complex.
An estimated 6,000 police officers were deployed to maintain order as demonstrators massed outside, calling for anti-corruption action.
In a statement posted on social media, Ms. Duterte wrote: “The burden remains on the prosecution to prove its case. Choosing to appear through counsel rather than testify personally does not diminish accountability or imply a lack of transparency.”
Mr. Marcos is the son of the infamously corrupt President Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos, who were both forced out of the Philippines in 1986, enabling the restoration of national democracy. However, that is now ancient history, and the family retains power in northern Luzon, the main Philippine island.
In 2022, Mr. Marcos Jr. ran for president on a joint ticket, the “Uni Team,” with Ms. Duterte as vice presidential running mate.
However, their partnership unraveled spectacularly. Monday’s drama is just the latest development.
Distrust started when she was named education minister — she had reportedly wanted defense — and accelerated when Mr. Marcos began attacking her father’s political allies. As tensions climbed, she resigned from her ministerial portfolio in 2024 but retained the vice-presidential title.
Central to her feud with Mr. Marcos is her father’s situation.
In 2025, her father was arrested by Philippine police and renditioned to the International Criminal Court in The Hague to face charges linked to his “War on Drugs.”
During that campaign, the tough-guy president oversaw the relaxing of various legal safeguards, enabling a wave of extrajudicial killings and outright vigilantism by alleged death squads.
Mr. Duterte is currently detained at the ICC, where he faces three charges of crimes against humanity. His trial is set to begin in November.
His daughter — the first Philippine vice president ever to face an impeachment motion — has benefited from Mr. Duterte’s political power base in Davao City in the southern Philippines but is a formidable player in her own right.
Trained as a lawyer, she served as mayor of Davao. Her 2022 campaign for vice president saw her win a record number of votes — more than Mr. Marcos’ — and she was the youngest Filipino ever to hold that position.
The political-judicial process that got underway Monday is expected to last months. Senators act as jurors, and an impeachment requires 16 out of 24 senators to vote for the measure.
Ms. Duterte is already down one supporter. Last month, one of her senatorial allies was arrested for corruption.
Why Manila matters to Washington
Mr. Marcos has proven to be a good ally of the Pentagon.
Since he took power, new bilateral agreements were reached in Washington, enabling larger numbers of U.S. troops to rotate through the Philippines with their equipment — including Patriot, High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (or HIMARS) and Tomahawk-capable Typhoon missile launchers.
The Tomahawk-Typhoon combination, which can reach targets in southern China, has drawn the ire of Beijing.
The Philippines plays a key node in the “First Island Chain” that blocks Chinese naval access to the blue-water Pacific. Forces deployed on the Philippines’ northern Batanes Islands could feasibly deter Chinese naval forces from blockading Taiwan by area-denying the Bashi Channel, the maritime choke point between Taiwan and the Philippines.
Marcos-era Philippines is also emerging as a node in intraregional security initiatives. With defense hawk Sanae Takaichi having taken over the premiership in Tokyo last year, Japan is increasingly throwing its weight behind both the Philippines and Taiwan.
Japan is increasing its presence in multilateral drills in, over and around the Philippines, and is supplying Manila with a range of equipment.
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