‘A scrap of paper': Philippine VP Duterte wants impeachment complaint dismissed
The impeachment, widely seen as a test of political alliances, comes amid an acrimonious falling out between Ms Duterte and President Ferdinand Marcos Jr that has sparked a broader power struggle ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
Mr Marcos, who has distanced himself from the case, is limited to a single term but is expected to groom a successor to run. Ms Duterte, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, is viewed as a strong rival contender if she avoids impeachment.
'The Vice-President enters a plea of not guilty, without waiving any of her jurisdictional and other objections over the charges,' Ms Duterte said in a submission dated June 23.
She dismissed the accusations against her as baseless, calling them 'exaggerations and speculations that are not supported by evidence' in the 34-page response to the Senate.
In February, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Duterte for betrayal of public trust and high crimes, sending the case to the Senate.
On June 11, the Senate returned the case to the House shortly after convening as an impeachment court. The Senate also ordered Duterte to respond to the allegations in the case, including that she had plotted to assassinate Marcos and others based on a statement she made in November about hiring an assassin.
She is also accused of misusing public funds both as vice-president and during her stint as education secretary.
As well as saying there was nothing substantive for her to answer in the case, Ms Duterte argued the impeachment complaint was the fourth filed against her, with the three earlier ones not acted on by the lower house.
This, she said, violated a constitutional safeguard against more than one impeachment proceeding against the same official within a year, reiterating the arguments she used in asking the Supreme Court to dismiss the complaint. That case is ongoing.
'There are no statements of ultimate facts in the Fourth Impeachment complaint. Stripped of its 'factual' and legal conclusions, it is nothing more than a scrap of paper,' Ms Duterte's reply said.
She faces a lifetime political ban if convicted.
Congresswoman Gerville Luistro, a member of the impeachment prosecution panel, confirmed the lower house had received Duterte's reply to the Senate on Monday.
'The entire prosecution team is currently studying each and every allegation contained in the answer. Certainly, we will be filing a reply within 5 days from receipt as provided in the rules,' Ms Luistro said in a phone message. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Times
2 hours ago
- Business Times
US Senate passes Trump's sweeping tax-and spending bill, setting up House battle
[WASHINGTON] US Senate Republicans passed President Donald Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill on Tuesday (Jul 1) by the narrowest of margins, advancing a package that would slash taxes, reduce social safety net programmes and boost military and immigration enforcement spending while adding US$3.3 trillion to the national debt. The legislation now heads to the House of Representatives for possible final approval, though a handful of Republicans there have already voiced opposition to some of the Senate provisions. Trump wants to sign it into law by the Independence Day holiday on Friday, and House Speaker Mike Johnson said he aimed to meet that deadline. The measure would extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, give new tax breaks for income from tips and overtime pay and increase spending on the military and immigration enforcement. It also would cut about US$930 billion of spending on the Medicaid health programme and food aid for low-income Americans and repeal many of Democratic former President Joe Biden's green-energy incentives. The legislation, which has exposed Republican divides over the nation's fast-growing US$36.2 trillion debt, would raise the federal government's self-imposed debt ceiling by US$5 trillion. Congress must raise the cap in the coming months or risk a devastating default. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up The Senate passed the measure in a 51-50 vote with Vice-President JD Vance breaking a tie after three Republicans - Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky - joined all 47 Democrats in voting against the bill. The vote followed an all-night debate in which Republicans grappled with the bill's price tag and its impact on the US healthcare system. Much of the late horse-trading was aimed at winning over Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who had signlaled she would vote against the bill without significant alterations. The final Senate bill included two provisions that helped secure her vote: one that sends more food-aid funding to Alaska and several other states, and another providing US$50 billion to help rural hospitals cope with the sweeping cuts to Medicaid. 'Not fiscal responsibility' The vote in the House, where Republicans hold a 220-212 majority, is likely to be close. Johnson, the House speaker, said during an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity that Republican leadership would seek to move the legislation through the Rules Committee on Wednesday morning and get it before the entire House before Friday's holiday, unless travel plans were upset by thunderstorms that have menaced the Washington area. 'Hopefully we're voting on this by tomorrow or Thursday at latest, depending on the weather delays and travel and all the rest - that's the wild card that we can't control,' Johnson said. A White House official told reporters that Trump would be 'deeply involved' in pushing House Republicans to approve the bill. 'It's a great bill. There is something for everyone,' Trump said at an event in Florida on Tuesday. 'And I think it's going to go very nicely in the House.' An initial version passed with only two votes to spare in May, and several House Republicans have said they do not support the Senate version, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates will add US$800 billion more to the national debt than the House version. Republicans have struggled to balance conservatives' demands for deeper spending cuts to reduce the impact on the deficit with moderate lawmakers' concerns that the Medicaid cuts could hurt their constituents, including service cutbacks in rural areas. The House Freedom Caucus, a group of hardline conservatives who repeatedly threatened to withhold their support for the tax bill, has criticised the Senate version's price tag. 'There's a significant number who are concerned,' Republican Representative Chip Roy, a member of the Freedom Caucus, said of the Senate bill. A group of more moderate House Republicans, especially those who represent lower-income areas, have objected to the steeper Medicaid cuts in the Senate's plan. Meanwhile, Republicans have faced separate concerns from a handful of House Republicans from high-tax states, including New York, New Jersey and California, who have demanded a larger tax break for state and local tax payments. The legislation has also drawn criticism from billionaire Elon Musk, the former Trump ally who has railed against the bill's enormous cost and vowed to back challengers to Republican lawmakers in next year's midterm elections. House Democrats are expected to remain unanimously opposed to the bill. 'This is the largest assault on American healthcare in history,' House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters. 'It's the largest assault on nutrition in American history.' Tax breaks, immigration crackdown, tighter benefits The Senate bill would deliver some of its biggest benefits to the top 1 per cent of US households, earning US$663,000 or more in 2025, according to the Tax Foundation. These high earners would gain the most from the bill's tax cuts, the CBO has said. Independent analysts have said the bill's tightening of eligibility for food and health safety net programmes would effectively reduce poor Americans' incomes and increase their costs for food and healthcare. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office forecast that nearly 12 million more people would become uninsured under the Senate plan. The bill's increase in the national debt effectively serves as a wealth transfer from younger to older Americans, nonpartisan analysts have said. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said the vote 'covered this chamber in shame,' adding that the bill would be 'ripping health care away from millions of Americans, taking the food out of the mouths of hungry kids.' Republicans rejected the cost estimate generated by the CBO's longstanding methodology and have argued the Medicaid cuts would only root out 'waste, fraud and abuse' from the system. REUTERS
AsiaOne
4 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Trump escalates feud with Musk, threatens Tesla, SpaceX support, Money News
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Tuesday (July 1) threatened to cut off the billions of dollars in subsidies that Elon Musk's companies receive from the federal government, in an escalation of the war of words between the president and the world's richest man, one-time allies who have since fallen out. The feud reignited on Monday when Musk, who spent hundreds of millions on Trump's re-election, renewed his criticism of Trump's tax-cut and spending bill, which would eliminate subsidies for electric vehicle purchases that have benefited Tesla, the leading US EV maker. That bill passed the Senate by a narrow margin midday Tuesday. "He's upset that he's losing his EV mandate and… he's very upset about things but he can lose a lot more than that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday. Though Musk has often said government subsidies should be eliminated, Tesla has historically benefited from billions of dollars in tax credits and other policy benefits because of its business in clean transportation and renewable energy. The Trump administration has control over many of those programmes, some of which are targeted in the tax bill, including a US$7,500 (S$9,545) consumer tax credit that has made buying or leasing EVs more attractive for consumers. Tesla shares dropped more than five per cent Tuesday. The Tesla CEO renewed threats to start a new political party and spend money to unseat lawmakers who support the tax bill, despite campaigning on limiting government spending. Republicans have expressed concern that Musk's on-again, off-again feud with Trump could hurt their chances to protect their majority in the 2026 midterm congressional elections. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back on Musk's criticism that the bill would balloon the deficit, saying, "I'll take care of" the country's finances. Musk spearheaded the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), aimed at cutting government spending, before he pulled back his involvement in late May. Trump on Truth Social on Tuesday suggested Musk might receive more subsidies "than any human being in history, by far," adding: "No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE." Trump later doubled down, telling reporters with a smile, "Doge is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon." In response to Trump's threats, Musk said on his own social media platform X, "I am literally saying CUT IT ALL. Now." He later added that he could escalate the exchange with Trump but said, "I will refrain for now." Challenges to Tesla The feud could create new challenges for Musk's business empire, particularly as the electric automaker — his primary source of wealth — bets heavily on the success of its robotaxi programme currently being tested in Austin, Texas. The speed of Tesla's robotaxi expansion depends heavily on state and federal regulation of self-driving vehicles. [[nid:719679]] "The substance of Tesla's valuation right now is based on progress towards autonomy. I don't think anything is going to happen on that front, but that is the risk," said Gene Munster, managing partner at Tesla investor Deepwater Asset Management. Analysts expect another rough quarter when the EV maker reports second-quarter delivery figures on Wednesday. Sales in major European markets were mixed, data showed Tuesday, as Musk's embrace of hard-right politics has alienated potential buyers in several markets worldwide. The elimination of the EV credit could hit Tesla's earnings by as much as US$1.2 billion, about 17 per cent of its 2024 operating income, J.P. Morgan analysts estimated earlier this year. The Electrification Coalition, an EV advocacy group, on Tuesday urged the US House to revise the Senate bill. Shares of smaller EV players Rivian and Lucid Group lost two per cent and 3.8 per cent, respectively, on Tuesday. Gary Black, a longtime Tesla investor who manages money for the Future Fund LLC, sold his shares recently as car sales declined. He told Reuters he is considering when to reinvest and that eliminating electric vehicle credits would harm Tesla. In a separate post on X, Black said: "Not sure why @elonmusk didn't see this coming as a result of him speaking out against passage of President Trump's big beautiful bill." The US Transportation Department regulates vehicle design and will play a key role in deciding if Tesla can mass-produce robotaxis without pedals and steering wheels, while Musk's rocket firm SpaceX has about US$22 billion in federal contracts. Tesla also gets regulatory credits for selling electric vehicles, and has reaped nearly US$11 billion by selling those credits to other automakers who are unable to comply with increasingly strict vehicle emissions rules. Without those sales, the company would have posted a first-quarter loss in April. Trump had in early June threatened to cut Musk's government contracts when their relationship erupted into an all-out social media brawl over the tax-cut bill, which non-partisan analysts estimate would add about US$3 trillion to the US debt. Asked if he was going to deport Musk, a naturalised US citizen, Trump told reporters as he left the White House on Tuesday: "I don't know. We'll have to take a look." [[nid:719708]]
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Top Russian general convicted in high profile corruption case
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Timur Ivanov was sentenced to 13 years in a penal colony for embezzlement and given a fine of nearly US$1.3 million (S$1.65 million). ISTANBUL – A top Russian general was convicted of embezzlement and jailed on July 1, state news media reported, in one of the highest-profile cases from a months-long Kremlin campaign to root out military corruption amid the war in Ukraine. Timur Ivanov, a general and longtime deputy defence minister who oversaw military construction projects, was detained in April 2024 on charges of taking a 'large-scale' bribe – the first in a string of arrests of senior officers. Ivanov, who was known as a protégé of Mr Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defence minister and a close associate of President Vladimir Putin, had pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. The arrest of Ivanov, and other defence officials after him, signalled a turning point in the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine . Coming at a moment of rising costs and increasing criticism from supporters of the war over the distribution of frontline resources, the moves were seen as an effort by Mr Putin to put the war effort on more economically sustainable footing after more than two years of fighting – and to show that Russia had the discipline and capacity to wage a long conflict. In delivering the verdict on July 1 at Moscow City Court, Judge Sergei Podoprigorov sentenced Ivanov to 13 years in a penal colony for embezzlement and also imposed a fine of nearly US$1.3 million (S$1.65 million), according to Russian state news agency Tass. Ivanov will lose his military medals and honours, Tass reported. Mr Denis Baluyev, an attorney for Ivanov, told Tass that he planned to appeal. Ivanov still faces bribery charges. The verdict on July 1 was a rare conviction of a prominent member of the Russian elite with ties to Kremlin officials. Details of the indictment had been scarce, since the judge closed the trial to the public, saying classified information could be revealed during the proceedings. Tass had previously reported that Ivanov stood accused of embezzling US$2.7 million from ferry purchases and of receiving more than US$15 million in bribes. In his final statement to the court, according to Tass, Ivanov said he had 'absolutely nothing to do' with the accusations levelled against him. Russian military bloggers, some of whom had raised the alarm about graft in the military, welcomed the ruling. 'It has been clear since the first days of the war that the army's coffers were being pilfered in their entirety, and the army was not ready for hostilities,' one blogger, who goes by the name Alex Parker Returns, wrote in a Telegram post on July 1. The post called the verdict a 'half-measure' while hailing it as a rare example of justice. 'Who could have thought two years ago that a deputy defence minister would be sentenced to 13 years in prison?' the post added. Ivanov, who served as a deputy defence minister starting in 2016, had long been in charge of military construction projects, including huge contracts awarded to rebuild the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine, which was devastated by Russian attacks soon after the February 2022 invasion. He was also responsible for building Patriot Park, a military theme park outside Moscow that sought to cast the experiences of the Russian armed forces in a holy light, and was awarded the Order for Merit to the Fatherland several times. Before his arrest, Ivanov had attracted the attention of Mr Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation for his and his wife's conspicuously lavish lifestyle, including yacht rentals on the French Riviera. He also was placed under US sanctions in 2022 for his role in Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Ivanov's detention in April 2024 marked the beginning of a month-long purge of high-ranking Defence Ministry officials and generals, charged with bribery and misappropriation of funds. In May 2024, Mr Putin unexpectedly removed Mr Shoigu, his long-serving defence minister, and replaced him with a member of his economic team. In addition to Mr Ivanov, a number of others swept up in the campaign have been convicted. Lieutenant-General Vadim Shamarin, former deputy chief of Russia's general staff, was sentenced in April to seven years in a maximum-security prison for taking bribes. A week later, a Russian military court sentenced Major General Ivan Popov, a former top commander in Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to five years in a penal colony for fraud and stripped him of his rank. NYTIMES
