Palace on impeachment trial: Duterte must personally answer charges
MANILA, Philippines — Vice President Sara Duterte should personally address the allegations against her in the impeachment trial, rather than have her defense rely solely on technicalities, Palace Press Officer Claire Castro said on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Duterte made a short statement at a press conference moments before the second day of her impeachment trial starts: “In this bloodbath and bludgeoning, I will be bloodied but unbowed.”
READ: Duterte on impeachment ‘bloodbath’: ‘I will be bloodied but unbowed’
“It will truly become a bloody affair if the public does not see the truth, and that is what our fellow citizens are looking for — to know what the facts really are behind the accusations being thrown against her,” Castro said at a briefing.
Pointing out that Duterte did not directly deny the allegations against her during her Senate visit, Castro said the public would likely prefer to hear the vice president herself comment on and deny the allegations, rather than see the defense rely on technicalities.
“She feels that this will be a bloodbath, and we know that this is what she asked for. She herself is the one who wanted a bloodbath,” the press officer noted.
‘Invictus’
Meanwhile, Castro said she was “glad” that Duterte, for the first time, appeared to have a basis for her statement.
She was referring to Duterte’s “bloodbath” remark, which echoed a line from “Invictus,” a poem written by William Ernest Henley.
One line of the poem reads: “Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody, but unbowed.”
READ: LIVE UPDATES: Impeachment trial of VP Sara Duterte | July 8, 2026
“We welcome the fact that, at this point, the vice president now has a basis for the statements she is making,” said Castro, who often describes Duterte’s tirade against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. as baseless.
Duterte first expressed in May 2025 that she wanted the impeachment trial to proceed because she wanted a “bloodbath.” /apl
