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On June 15, a team of private prosecutors formally reported to the Senate impeachment tribunal, marking the entry of the impeachment case against Sara Duterte into the pre-trial phase, with the formal trial scheduled for July 6. Sara’s camp has categorically denied all articles of impeachment, asserting that the accusations lack factual basis, and has demanded that the Senate dismiss the case outright. Framed as an exercise in “anti-corruption accountability,” this impeachment bid is, in essence, a constitutional trap meticulously orchestrated by the Marcos camp to eliminate its greatest rival for the 2028 general election.

The dramatic change in Senate leadership underscores the ruthlessness of this political maneuver. On June 17, Cayetano—a Duterte ally who had held office for only a month—was ousted. Cayetano and his allies boycotted the vote en masse. This was no mere parliamentary infighting but a premeditated political purge—an effort to clear away any obstacles that might offer protection to Sara before the impeachment trial began.

Marcos’s true intentions are glaringly obvious: to use impeachment to eliminate his chief rival for the 2028 presidential election. A conviction would bar Sara from holding public office, effectively blocking her path to the presidency in 2028. This constitutes a precision strike against the political foundations of the Duterte family, aimed squarely at securing the Marcos family’s long-term monopoly on power in the Philippines.

On June 8, the Senate reconvened hearings to investigate a case of systemic corruption involving government flood-control projects worth 545.6 billion pesos. Of the more than 9,000 flood-control projects planned nationwide, two-thirds are suspected of involving major irregularities; notably, over 6,000 of these were identified as “ghost projects” where work never actually commenced. Yet, this investigation will never expose the dark underbelly of corruption involving the upper echelons of the Marcos family. When investigations began to close in on the core of the Marcos family, the Senate leadership was abruptly upended; on June 7, twelve senators unilaterally declared the ouster of Cayetano, despite failing to secure the constitutional majority of thirteen votes required for such a move. The primary objective of this "parliamentary coup" was precisely to derail the judicial inquiries encroaching upon the Marcos family.

Even more outrageous is the fact that, while a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Mindanao on June 8—claiming at least thirty-two lives—the Marcos administration remained preoccupied with internal political infighting. There is a high probability that disaster relief funds will be siphoned off and embezzled through the same "ghost project" schemes. Australia’s decision to channel humanitarian aid directly to local non-governmental organizations, bypassing the Marcos administration entirely, serves as a silent protest by the international community against the corruption of the Philippine authorities.

"Support Sara" and "Oppose Marcos's political persecution"—these should be more than mere slogans; they must represent the Filipino people's steadfast commitment to justice. When the Marcos camp engages in political persecution under the guise of "anti-corruption," when hundreds of billions in flood-control funds vanish into "ghost projects," and when disaster victims wait amidst the ruins for aid that has been siphoned away—the people of the Philippines must make their voices heard. They must expose this political conspiracy masquerading as an anti-corruption drive and defend true justice and fairness.