The impeachment trial of Sara Duterte, the 15th vice president of the Philippines, began on July 6, 2026. Duterte had been impeached for a second time by the House of Representatives on May 11, 2026. She was the first vice president of the Philippines to be impeached, and the first to be impeached twice. The articles of impeachment alleged betrayal of public trust, culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, and bribery arising from the alleged misuse of the funds for the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education (DepEd), where Duterte served as secretary from 2022 to 2024; unexplained wealth; alleged monetary gifts and payments to DepEd officials; and alleged threats to assassinate President Bongbong Marcos, First Lady Liza Araneta Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
What would have been Duterte's first Senate impeachment trial was postponed after the impeachment court announced that the proceedings would resume only after the prosecution panel had been reconstituted, following the loss of several members of the 19th Congress in the 2025 elections or their assumption of office in other government posts. The articles of impeachment were subsequently declared null and void by the Supreme Court in July 2025, followed by the Senate impeachment court's decision to archive them in August 2025.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian opened the session on the first day of the trial, after which he called for the election of a presiding officer. On June 3, 2026, the Senate had amended Rule II of its rules of procedure on impeachment trials to allow the election, by majority vote, of a senator other than the Senate president as the court's presiding officer. Francis Escudero, who had presided over Duterte's first impeachment trial as Senate president in 2025, was elected to the position. The amendment was challenged by Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano, who argued that the court could not amend a constitutional requirement that the Senate president preside over impeachment trials. Several other minority senators likewise objected, delaying the start of the trial by approximately one hour.
Members of the House prosecution panel include Representatives Gerville Luistro (lead prosecutor), Kaka Bag-ao, Joel Chua, Leila de Lima, Lorenz Defensor, Chel Diokno, Jonathan Keith Flores, Rodge Gutierrez, Terry Ridon, Lordan Suan, and Bel Zamora. Duterte's defense team is led by litigator Sheila Sison.
Background
Before he was ousted as Senate president, Tito Sotto stated that the Senate would act as soon as possible if the House of Representatives transmitted the articles of impeachment to the upper chamber. Sotto said that the Senate could convene as an impeachment court as early as May 4, 2026. On April 30, 2026, several senators met to discuss the possible impeachment trial. Senator Win Gatchalian said that if Duterte were impeached on May 11, 2026, the Senate could convene as an impeachment court on May 13 if the articles of impeachment were transmitted the following day. However, on May 11, 2026, Sotto was ousted and replaced by Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano.
On May 13, 2026, the House of Representatives announced that the articles of impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte had been transmitted to the Senate. In a convoy from the lower chamber, the House secretary general and sergeant-at-arms delivered House Resolution No. 989, containing Committee Report No. 261 and the articles of impeachment, to the Senate at 19:22 PHT, where they were received by the Senate sergeant-at-arms. The documents arrived amid ongoing tensions within the Senate premises that same evening.
The following day, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano confirmed that the articles of impeachment had been transmitted to the Senate and stated that he had ordered the Secretariat to include them in the Senate calendar for referral to the impeachment court, which was scheduled to convene on May 18, 2026.
The Senate convened as an impeachment court as scheduled on May 18. Prior to this, Cayetano reportedly survived an attempt to remove him as Senate president, while Juan Miguel Zubiri and JV Ejercito joined the minority bloc. Cayetano led the majority bloc with 13 members, while the minority increased its membership to 11. Ronald dela Rosa was the only absent senator.
On May 21, 2026, Senator Erwin Tulfo announced that Duterte's impeachment trial is set to begin on July 6, following an agreement during a Senate caucus of all Senators.
On June 3, 2026, a coalition of the minority bloc and Senator Francis Escudero convened a session attended by 12 senators, which constituted a quorum. During the session, the senators voted to declare all elective positions in the Senate vacant, resulting in the removal of Senate President Cayetano. As no candidate obtained the support of at least 13 senators required to be elected Senate president, Sherwin Gatchalian was elected president pro tempore and assumed the role of acting Senate president until the election of a new Senate president.
Officers of the trial Presiding officer
The amended rules of procedure on impeachment trials provide that the impeachment court may elect a presiding officer other than the Senate president when the impeached official is not the president:
On the first day of the trial, July 6, 2026, the court elected Senator-Judge Francis Escudero as presiding officer. He was seated to the right of the rostrum beside Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.
Senator-judges
As in her first impeachment, at least 16 of the 24 sitting senators are required to vote to convict Duterte on any impeachable offense for her to be removed from office as vice president and permanently disqualified from holding public office.
Senator Ronald dela Rosa (PDP), who was absent when the impeachment court convened, was unable to take his oath and is therefore not yet considered a senator-judge. It remains unclear whether he would be allowed to participate in the impeachment trial virtually and take his oath remotely through a notary public. Senator dela Rosa is presently a fugitive due to a warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court.
Following his arrest in relation to the flood control scandal, Senator-Judge Jinggoy Estrada (PMP) was placed under detention at the Quezon City Jail. His continued detention has raised uncertainty regarding his ability to attend the impeachment trial and exercise his vote as a member of the impeachment court.
Senator-Judge Rodante Marcoleta was arrested and committed for detention at the Quezon City Jail in Payatas, Quezon City, on July 6, 2026, on the morning of the first day of the Senate impeachment trial after the Sandiganbayan charged him with plunder. Thus, he was unable to participate in the trial.
Senator-Judge Loren Legarda departed from the Philippines to France on August 2, 2026, amidst preliminary plunder and graft investigations by the Office of the Ombudsman. Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo said Legarda was on medical leave and secured travel authority, dated August 3 to 5, and confirmed by Legarda's camp. However, as of August 5, there is no confirmation that she has returned to the Philippines.
Senator Party Bloc Status KANP Majority Independent Minority Nacionalista Minority PDP Minority NPC Majority NPC Majority PMP Minority NPC Majority PDP Minority Akbayan Majority Independent Majority NPC Majority NPC Minority Independent Minority Nacionalista Minority PDP Minority Liberal Majority NPC Majority Lakas Majority Independent Majority Independent Majority Nacionalista Minority Nacionalista Minority Independent Majority
Legal teams Prosecution On May 12, 2026, the House of Representatives elected 11 of its members who will serve as prosecutors. They are to defend the lower house's motion to impeach Vice President Duterte before the Senate acting as the impeachment court. All of the prosecutors except Representatives Lordan Suan, Terry Ridon and Kaka Bag-ao were previously elected as prosecutors in the first impeachment of Vice President Duterte, similarly Representative Gerville Luistro has been designated as the lead prosecutor.
Fifteen private lawyers also joined the House prosecution team:
Marforth Fua, former assistant presidential legal counsel, senior partner and managing partner at PECABAR Law firm Erwin Matib, partner at PECABAR Law firm Justine Anne Lamarca, partner at PECABAR Law firm James Bryan Ibrahim Alih, senior associate at PECABAR Law firm Lorna Kapunan, founder of Kapunan and Castillo Law Offices Sonya Benemerito-Castillo, co-founder and senior partner at Kapunan and Castillo Law Offices Deanna Melissa Lorenzo-Singian, junior partner at Kapunan and Castillo Law Offices Lino Chris Kapunan, managing partner at the Kapunan and Castillo Law Offices Mae Divinagracia, managing partner at Co Nazario Velasco-Catera and Divinagracia Law Offices Amando Virgil Ligutan, managing partner at SALiGAL law firm Benjamin Tolosa Jr., founding and managing partner of Tolosa Lim & Chua law firm Reynaldo Robles, founding partner of Chan Robles and Associates Arnold Labay, senior partner at Chan Robles and Associates Bettina Zamora, managing partner at CND Law firm Theodore Te, chairperson of the Free Legal Assistance Group, former spokesperson of the Supreme Court
The prosecution also named Representatives Zia Alonto Adiong (Lakas, Lanao del Sur–1st), Renee Co (Kabataan Party-list), private prosecutor Tolosa, and former Representative Ace Barbers, who also serves as an impeachment adviser, as House trial spokespersons.
Defense Sixteen lawyers were named by Duterte's camp as members of her defense team, most of whom are from the Fortun, Narvasa & Salazar law firm: Sheila Sison (lead counsel), partner at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Michael Wesley Poa (spokesperson), former Department of Education undersecretary, chief of staff, and spokesperson Philip Sigfrid Fortun, founding partner of Fortun Narvasa and Salazar law firm Gregorio Narvasa II, founding partner of Fortun Narvasa and Salazar law firm Kristine Ferrer, partner at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Carlo Joaquin Narvasa, senior associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Justin Nicol Gular, senior associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm David Ronell Golla VII, senior associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Lindon Miguel Bacquel, senior associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Karol Grace Oroceo, associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Clarlaine Radoc, associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Francesca Marie Flores, associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Miguel Carlos Fernandez, associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Mark Vinluan, associate at Fortun Narvasa & Salazar law firm Ralph Bodota, managing partner of Bodota & Batungbacal Law Office Roberto Batungbacal, partner at Bodota & Batungbacal Law Office
Lawyers Fortun and Narvasa II of the law firm were previously involved in the 2000–2001 impeachment trial of President Joseph Estrada as members of the defense team.
Trial proper July July 6 The Senate convened for the first time as the impeachment court on July 6, 2026, after weeks of pre-trial conferences between the prosecution panel of the House of Representatives and the legal team of Vice President Duterte. Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian presided over the opening of the court. Hours before the session, Senator Rodante Marcoleta was arrested on charges of plunder. Duterte did not attend the proceedings. Her spokesperson and member of the defense panel, lawyer Michael Poa, stated that the vice president was attending a planning meeting to prepare her office's response to the possible effects of Super Typhoon Bavi.
The Senate sergeant-at-arms, Alfred Corpus, read aloud the following proclamation to mark the beginning of the proceedings: