The people won successive favorable rulings against the fascism and corruption against the Duterte clique. The case at the International Criminal Court against Rodrigo Duterte over his fake war on drugs quickly progressed this April. Meanwhile, Congress needs just one other step to have his daughter Sara Duterte impeached anew.

The ICC Appeals Court decisively dismissed on April 22 Duterte’s appeal to junk the cases against him on claims that they fall outside ICC jurisdiction. The court ruled that the ICC has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, mainly killings, that occurred between November 1, 2011 and March 16, 2019.

Pre-Trial Chamber I confirmed the charges against the former president the following day. Trial Chamber III was immediately formed to try him.

The three judges who will form Trial Chamber III were announced on April 28. It will convene prosecution lawyers, defense, and victims on May 28. Experts say the formal trial could start in late 2026, or early 2027.

Meanwhile, the Philippine Congress’s Committee on Justice voted 55-0 on May 4 for Sara Duterte’s impeachment after declaring “probable cause” or sufficient basis for the complaints filed against her. The vote came after the committee’s over two months of deliberation.

Congress used as basis the second and third impeachment complaints, which it summarized into the following charges:

1. grave threats/assassination plotting: This covers Duterte’s public threats to kill or to have someone kill Ferdinand Marcos Jr, his wife Liza, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
2. misuse and malversation (corruption) of confidential funds: This includes the illegal and improper use of ₱612.5 million in confidential/intelligence funds of the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education when she was education secretary.
3. unexplained wealth/suspicious bank transactions: This includes uncovered transactions in various banks totaling ₱6.7 billion linked to Duterte and her husband Mans Carpio. The Anti-Money Laundering Council records confirm the transactions.

The Congress plenary will vote on the complaint on May 11. If 1/3 of the plenary votes for it, it goes straight to the Senate for formal trial.