The nation deserves accountability, not political spectacle
The Workers and Peasants’ Party (WPP) recognizes that impeachment is a constitutional mechanism for holding the highest public officials accountable. No one—not even the Vice President—is above the law or above public scrutiny. Public officials entrusted with billions of pesos of taxpayers’ money must answer serious allegations through the institutions established by the Constitution.
However, accountability must not be confused with political theater.
The ongoing impeachment proceedings against Vice President Sara Duterte increasingly resemble a contest for political advantage rather than a sober constitutional exercise. Analysts across the political spectrum have noted that the outcome of this trial could reshape the 2028 presidential election, making it impossible to ignore the intense political stakes surrounding the proceedings.
The framers of the 1987 Constitution deliberately entrusted impeachment to Congress because it is fundamentally a political process, not an ordinary criminal trial. Senators do not sit as judges in the judicial sense; they sit as representatives exercising a constitutional power on behalf of the Filipino people.
Yet public discourse has become dominated by courtroom tactics, celebrity lawyers, objections, cross-examinations, and trial strategy—as though impeachment were simply another case before the courts. This judicialization of impeachment risks obscuring its true constitutional character. The central questions should be whether public trust has been breached and whether continued service remains consistent with the public interest—not which legal team delivers the more dramatic performance.
This distinction matters because many Filipinos may wrongly interpret the Senate’s eventual verdict as the definitive truth about the Vice President’s guilt or innocence. It is not.
A conviction would represent a political judgment that the constitutional threshold for removal has been met. An acquittal would represent a political judgment that the necessary votes were not obtained. Neither outcome, by itself, constitutes a judicial determination of criminal liability or factual innocence.
The nation deserves accountability, not political spectacle
In a democracy, political outcomes should never be mistaken for objective truth.
Equally troubling is the enormous amount of public time and resources devoted to this process. The Senate has approved up to 92 trial days for the proceedings. While estimates of the total cost vary and remain the subject of public discussion, every day devoted to impeachment carries significant financial and opportunity costs—not only in direct government expenditures but also in legislative time that could otherwise be spent addressing urgent national concerns.
Public debate has included estimates ranging from tens of millions in direct Senate expenses to far larger estimates when the full costs of government participation are considered, underscoring the need for greater transparency in reporting the actual public cost of the proceedings.
Meanwhile, millions of Filipino workers continue to struggle with wages that fail to keep pace with rising prices. Farmers continue to confront low farmgate prices, expensive inputs, and climate-related disasters. Hospitals remain overcrowded. Public schools lack classrooms and teachers. Small businesses face rising costs, while many families continue to worry about putting food on the table.
These are the issues that determine whether Filipinos live with dignity.
Workers and farmers have little to gain from an impeachment trial that increasingly serves as the opening act of the 2028 elections. They stand to lose if national governance becomes consumed by political rivalry while urgent economic and social reforms are pushed aside.
The Philippines deserves both accountability and governance.
Those responsible for misuse of public office must answer for their actions. But constitutional accountability should never become a substitute for governing, nor should it become a stage where political factions rehearse the next presidential campaign while the everyday struggles of ordinary Filipinos are relegated to the background.
The Workers and Peasants’ Party calls on all political leaders to rise above partisan calculations. Let accountability proceed according to the Constitution—but let the nation’s scarce time, public resources, and legislative attention remain firmly focused on the real priorities of the Filipino people: decent jobs, living wages, food security, affordable healthcare, quality education, and honest government.
These—not political spectacles—are the issues that will determine the future of our Republic.
- Workers and Peasants’ Party (WPP)
“Para sa Manggagawa, Magsasaka, at Sambayanan.”
