Vice President Sara Duterte is heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for a personal trip with her family, just a day before the scheduled start of her impeachment trial in the Senate.
The Office of the Vice President (OVP) confirmed Duterte’s travel, stating that she will also participate in the Independence Day celebration on June 12.
Additionally, she will attend an OVP program consultation with overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) on the same day.
The OVP did not specify whether Duterte left the country on Tuesday, June 10, ahead of the June 11 start of impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
The senator-judges are set to convene as an impeachment court on Wednesday, following Senate President Francis Escudero’s oath-taking as presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court on June 9, after a heated exchange between pro-Duterte and pro-impeachment allies.
The rest of the senator-judges are expected to take their oath on Tuesday during the afternoon plenary session.
Duterte is facing seven Articles of Impeachment, which included threats to the life of the First Couple and Speaker Martin Romualdez, citing to sedition, loss of public trust, and misuse of public funds.
She was impeached on Feb. 5 by the House of Representatives, with the Articles of Impeachment transmitted to the Senate on the same day.
Escudero, however, did not call for a special session to convene as an impeachment court over the break, but was forced by the Senate minority bloc on Monday to take his oath and trigger the start of the impeachment proceedings on June 11. (Raymund Antonio)
