The Philippine Senate removed an ally of former President Rodrigo Duterte as speaker of the chamber and elected a new leader, just weeks before the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte, the former president’s daughter, was scheduled to begin.
During a special session yesterday, the 13 senators present voted to select Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian as “Senate President,” after Senator Joel Villanueva, a member of the pro-Duterte majority, agreed to switch sides. Members of the pro-Dutertre opposition bloc were not present.
The vote confirms the impeachment of Alan Peter Cayetano, the leader of the pro-Duterte camp in the Senate, who was elevated to the top post in a “coup” on May 11. On June 3, a bloc led by Gatchalian fought back, mustering the support needed to declare Senate leadership positions vacant. They failed to elect a replacement due to lack of votes, but the House of Representatives and the presidential palace recognized Gatchalian as acting speaker of the 24-seat chamber.
An hour before the start of yesterday’s session, Rappler reported, Cayetano announced that he had given up his bid for the Senate presidency, after Villanueva informed him of his decision to support Gatchalian.
Until then, Cayetano and his bloc had challenged Gatchalian’s interim Senate presidency, calling his June 3 maneuver an “illegal coup” and insisting that Cayetano was the “legitimate and moral” Senate president.
All this political jostling is linked to the bitter and protracted political feud that has raged between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and former President Duterte’s family over the past two years.
This political war is now concentrated in the Senate, which is due to begin the impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte on July 6. Duterte was impeached by the House of Representatives on May 11 for a series of crimes, including corruption, embezzlement of government funds and an alleged plot to assassinate Marcos.
If she is found guilty by the Senate, which requires the vote of at least 18 of 24 senators, she would be removed from office and barred from elected office for life. Duterte and his supporters say the impeachment is a politically motivated attempt to neutralize his bid for the presidency in 2028.
The tug-of-war between the pro- and anti-Duterte blocs in the Senate spawned a number of side plots that kept Manila’s large press busy for weeks. Cayetano’s election as Senate president was only made possible after Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who had been in hiding to avoid an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), made a surprise appearance in the Senate to vote. He was then forced to flee after Philippine police attempted to arrest him on an ICC arrest warrant, linked to his role in President Duterte’s violent “war on drugs.” Duterte was arrested on an ICC arrest warrant in March 2025 and is currently in a holding cell awaiting trial at the Hague court. Dela Rosa is currently in hiding.
Separately, Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada, another pro-Duterte Philippine senator, surrendered to police on June 1 after a special anti-corruption court ordered his arrest for receiving 573 million pesos ($9.3 million) in bribes in connection with the country’s long-running infrastructure corruption scandal. Before his surrender, Estrada claimed he was targeted because he was aligned with Dutertes and that the accusations were an attempt to get him to switch sides.
Villaneuva is also under investigation by the Justice Department for his role in corruption allegations related to flood control projects. Whether this has anything to do with his decision to vote with the anti-Duterte bloc in yesterday’s Senate vote will no doubt be the subject of much speculation.