VP Sara to visit Hong Kong ahead of impeachment trial resumption

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte (front R) leaves court after posting bail in Quezon City, suburban Manila on September 5, 2026.

AFP / Ted Aljibe

MANILA, Philippines — The Office of the Vice President (OVP) announced on Friday, November 6, that Vice President Sara Duterte will be in Hong Kong until November 8, just one day before the resumption of her impeachment trial.

The office specified that Duterte would cover all travel costs using personal funds. No government money, resources or facilities would be used for the trip.

The OVP also confirmed that Duterte was granted permission to travel by the Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 98, which issued an arrest warrant for the vice president in September.

The warrant, stemming from grave threats made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez, was among the allegations included in the four original articles of impeachment against Duterte.

The impeachment trial is set to resume on Monday, November 9, despite a pending Supreme Court challenge regarding the voting threshold to convict the vice president.

During the sessions, the defense will present its evidence under a narrower case that retains only Article II of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Duterte of amassing unexplained wealth.

Duterte's lawyers submitted a 25-person witness lineup for the hearings from November 9 to 13. The defense's first planned witness, Ralph Sarmiento, a former law dean at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City, has declined to take the stand.