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Philippine VP Duterte impeachment trial: Sen Escudero says 16 votes needed to convict
First session adjourned after more than three hours of preliminary debates. On Tuesday, the impeachment court will accept witness lists and evidence from both the prosecution and defence
- PUBLISHED: Mon 6 Jul 2026, 5:24 PM
The impeachment trial against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte started in Manila on Monday, July 6, fulfilling its promise to be an interesting joust between her supporters and defence lawyers and the prosecution.
With only 21 senator-judges present following the arrest of Rodante Marcoleta earlier that morning, the trial opened with the selection of the impeachment court's presiding officer. Pro-Duterte senator-judges, led by siblings Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano, sought to block the motion to appoint a presiding officer other than the Senate president, but they were outvoted.
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Senator Francis Escudero was eventually elected by a 12–8 majority, while the vote of Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, who presided over the first hour and a half of the trial, was not recorded.
Legal luminary Antonio La Vina said the choice of a lawyer as presiding officer saved two hours of proceedings.
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What the presiding officer said
Upon assuming the court’s chairmanship, Escudero delivered an opening statement outlining the responsibilities of the impeachment court.
The presiding senator-judge cited the 1987 Philippine Constitution mandating a concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate shall convict any respondent. “With 24 members of the Senate, a literal interpretation of this means that conviction requires the affirmative vote of at least 16 senator judges,” he said.
He granted, however, that any interested party may seek the guidance of the Philippine Supreme Court on whether the threshold may be lowered based on the actual number of senator-judges present in the trial.
Secondly, Escudero said the quantum of proof required to sustain a judgment of conviction or acquittal will not be based on “proof beyond reasonable doubt” required in criminal trials. Instead, he said, "decisions regarding whether to acquit or convict must be based upon clear charges supported by sufficiently clear and convincing evidence," acknowledging that fellow senator-judges have some leeway in their determination of Duterte’s guilt or innocence.
Lastly, Escudero said he will allow some degree of liberality in applying rules in resolving questions of procedure and evidence. “[T]he rules shall be liberally construed in order to promote their objective of securing a just, speedy, and inexpensive disposition of every action and proceeding,” he noted.
What the prosecution said
Chief prosecutor Gerville Luistro of the Philippine House of Representatives (HOR) played to the public in addressing the impeachment court almost entirely in the Filipino language. She denied the impeachment trial was to persecute Duterte but to answer the question if accountability still means something in the Philippines.
“The prosecution will present exactly what the Constitution requires. Evidence. Not gossip, not speculation, not propaganda, and especially not social narrative,” Luistro undescored.
She added that the prosecution is ready with its evidence, official records, financial documents, government reports, video recordings, statements under oath, and independent findings of institutions.
What the defence said
As expected, Duterte absented herself from the first day of the trial. Instead, lawyer Sheila Sison spoke in her defence, citing their client’s substantial mandate of 32 million votes in the 2022 presidential elections. Sison said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and each of the public prosecutors do not have as many votes “who now are here to prosecute her and seek to undo these people's choice.”
Sison went further by accusing the prosecutors, legislator-members of the HOR, of themselves failing to be accountable to the people; serving with utmost responsibility, integrity, loyalty, and efficiency, act with patriotism and justice; and leading modest lives. “[The] Constitution does not only speak to the Vice President. It also demands the same standards from the prosecutors,” Sison added in her broadside.
The defence lawyer proceeded to accuse the prosecution “curated purported pieces of evidence to construct a narrative against the Vice President. “The articles of impeachment presented before this Court as an exercise of the House's power to initiate impeachment cases are therefore, in sober truth, the product of an impermissible intrusion of clear constitutional boundaries,” she said.
What the impeachment promises
The impeachment court adjourned after more than three hours of preliminaries and debates. It will resume at 2pm (Philippine time) on Tuesday, July 7, when the court shall accept lists of witnesses from both the prosecution and defence, as well as pieces of evidence they wish to submit.
Political observers noted as a country with a long tradition of jurisprudence, the impeachment trial promises to be a good study for law students, legal professionals and followers of courtroom drama. It will run for at least 92 days, three days a week.
What is notable in these proceedings, they added is the fact that it is a legal brawl between a vice president accused of corruption and public prosecutors from an institution widely believed by Filipinos to be corrupt itself.
