MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has asked the Supreme Court to nullify an impeachment complaint against her, making her first legal move to fight the case that could lead to her removal and lead to a lifetime ban from public office.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to void her impeachment and block a Senate trial that could remove her from office. The House of Representatives, which is dominated by the allies of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Thursday distanced himself from the impeachment of his estranged Vice President Sara Duterte, saying the executive branch of government cannot have a hand in it.

Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte was facing an impeachment trial in the Philippine Senate after the required two-thirds majority of lawmakers voted Wednesday for her to be removed from office am

The Marcos and Duterte families dominate politics in the Philippines, and elections in the country can be as much a battle of personalities and factional interests as of policy.

It is the conflict between the United States and China that is being fought out in the upcoming election, and the impeachment is the opening salvo.

The Philippine Senate president says the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will begin after Congress reopens in June and will be done fairly to avoid a repeat of a 2001 impeachment proceeding that stalled and sparked massive protests that forced a president to step down.

The president, Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos, whose father in 20 years as a dictatorial president imposed martial law, is facing off against the