The Philippine lower house of Congress on Wednesday endorsed an impeachment complaint against Vice-President Sara Duterte, the daughter of the country’s firebrand former president, paving the way for a rare trial in the Senate.
A bill of impeachment will be sent to the upper house, where the 23 senators would serve as jurors in proceedings that could result in the removal of Duterte and her lifetime disqualification from holding office.
Duterte would be the Philippines ’ second most senior official to face removal from office.
The grounds for impeachment were not immediately clear. Duterte has consistently denied wrongdoing and has described moves against her as a political vendetta.
House Secretary General Reginald Velasco during a plenary session of the lower house said 215 of the 306 lawmakers endorsed a complaint seeking her impeachment. The development is a major setback for the influential Duterte family, whose popularity grew rapidly after Rodrigo Duterte was swept to power in 2016 as a maverick, crime-busting mayor, who as president upended Philippine foreign policy and launched a “war on drugs” that killed thousands of people.