Accountability, not loyalty test, should guide impeachment vote
Members of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, Kilusang Mayo Uno, and anti-corruption groups led a rally in front of the Batasang Pambansa to call for the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Bayan and KMU leaders are among those who filed an impeachment complaint against Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The Duterte camp is desperately peddling a malicious and self-serving narrative that the impeachment distracts the government from addressing urgent people’s concerns. This is farthest from the truth: our people are clamoring for accountability from government officials plundering the public coffers. Loyalists of Sara Duterte also wish to reduce the impeachment vote into a loyalty test to no avail.
Instead of succumbing to political blackmail, legislators should heed the people’s clamor. There is sufficient basis to impeach Duterte and this should be pursued to serve as a warning to other corrupt top officials that they will also be held liable for high crimes. In other words, impeaching Duterte is a step forward to stop impunity.
Duterte’s disdain towards those seeking truth and accountability is reflected in her continuing refusal to properly explain her anomalous expenses.
She tried to deflect the issue by dismissing the impeachment as a conspiracy aimed at persecuting her and her family.
But the impeachment is backed by concerned citizens and leaders of people’s organizations who echo the widespread outrage against the systematic theft of public funds. These are also the same groups which led the massive anti-corruption protests in 2025 and 2026.
Bayan said that delaying the impeachment vote undermines public interest. It also urged the Senate to immediately prepare for trial and conduct hearings, instead of maneuvering to prevent the presentation of evidence against Duterte.
Bayan calls on the people to remain vigilant and to carry forward the struggle against bureaucrat capitalism by supporting not just the impeachment of Duterte, but also demanding the accountability of corruption masterminds led by Marcos and his closest allies and cronies.