Metro Manila, Philippines – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. supports holding public officials accountable but has no position on a possible new impeachment complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, Malacañang said Tuesday, Dec. 16, as opposition lawmakers raise the possibility of fresh impeachment proceedings arising from plunder and graft cases.

Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said impeachment is not a priority issue for the president, who remains focused on governance.

“Sa ngayon, hindi pa po nagiging isyu sa Pangulo ang impeachment laban po sa Bise Presidente,” Castro said during a Palace press briefing.

[Translation: At present, impeachment against the vice president has not become an issue for the president.]

She noted Marcos’ long-standing view that no public official is beyond the law.

“Kung dapat managot ay dapat panagutin; wala dapat sinisino,” she said.

[Translation: If someone must be held accountable, then they should be held accountable; no one should be spared.)

The Palace remarks came after House Deputy Minority Leader Leila de Lima said plunder and graft complaints filed against Duterte before the Office of the Ombudsman could serve as the basis for a new impeachment case once the Constitution’s one-year bar expires in February.

De Lima said the complaints, lodged by civil society groups, involve allegations that overlap with constitutional grounds for impeachment, including plunder, bribery, graft and corruption, malversation, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.

“These are not mere fishing expeditions,” De Lima said, adding that the cases are backed by what she described as voluminous evidence.

She noted that while a previous impeachment complaint against Duterte was archived after the Supreme Court ruled it violated the one-year bar, the issue remains unsettled because of pending appeals.

“If and when the one-year bar expires, nothing will prevent the filing of another impeachment complaint,” De Lima said.