The Philippine Senate has convened an impeachment court that will try Vice President Sara Duterte, accused of betrayal of public trust for alleged misuse of confidential funds, accumulation of unexplained wealth and involvement in a plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. What should we expect from the Senate and can it conduct a credible and speedy trial amid the intense bickering of its members?
Under Philippine law, it is the House of Representatives that initiates impeachment cases and the Senate that acquits or convicts impeached officials.
Duterte was impeached twice by House members. The first impeachment in February 2025 did not proceed to a formal trial because the Senate sent it back to the House and the Supreme Court overturned it due to procedural flaws. After the one-year ban on filing new impeachment complaints, the House again voted in favor of Duterte’s impeachment last month and assured the public that there was no longer any reason to challenge it in court.
Unlike last year, the Senate was quick to constitute itself as a court of impeachment. He gave Duterte until the first week of June to respond to the allegations contained in the articles of impeachment forwarded by the House. Congress is scheduled to adjourn its sessions on June 3, but the impeachment trial is allowed to continue. The Senate has set the first day of the trial for July 6, and the prosecution and defense are expected to complete their presentations within two to six months.
The timetable is provisional due to frequent changes at the head of the Senate. Duterte’s allies currently control the majority, but they could easily lose the leadership position if one or two of their members side with the minority.
Several of their members also risk being arrested for looting, without the possibility of release on bail. One of them has an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for being an alleged co-conspirator in the bloody campaign against illegal drugs during the tenure of former President Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father.
The presidency of the Senate is crucial in determining how the impeachment trial will proceed. The Duterte bloc has proposed a revision of the rules to allow online voting, which is clearly intended to benefit its allies who might skip plenary sessions to avoid arrest. During the trial, Senate leaders can also restrict the evidence to be presented, speed up or delay hearings, and limit or expand public access to documents and records shared by prosecutors.
As a political process, the outcome of the impeachment proceedings remains uncertain, although Duterte’s allies wield significant influence.
During the impeachment trial of former President Joseph Estrada in 2001, his allies made up the majority in the Senate, but public outrage over the refusal to open key evidence sparked a mass uprising, which led to his ouster from power. In 2012, the impeachment conviction of a former Supreme Court chief justice was attributed to the testimony of witnesses who provided strong evidence of corruption.
It is not only leadership disputes in the Senate that will affect Duterte’s impeachment trial, as they also coincide with preparations for the ICC trial of the vice president’s father, detained in The Hague. The next presidential election may be two years away, but all political blocs should use the impeachment trial as a platform to improve their prospects.
Duterte can also resign as vice president to avoid conviction, but in that case the Senate could still decide to move forward with the impeachment trial. Besides the indictment, Duterte faces a number of complaints of plunder filed before the Ombudsman’s office.
The Senate will continue to be the center of political drama in the second half as it prepares to conduct an impeachment trial involving the frontrunner for the 2028 presidential election. It is convenient to describe this as a manifestation of the fierce rivalry between the Marcos and Duterte clans and their political allies, but the emergence of the massive anti-corruption movement in 2025 is a reminder that impeachment is also pursued by various stakeholders demanding truth, accountability and justice.