Escudero Elected to Preside Over Vice President Duterte's Impeachment Trial

[Updated as of 03:30 p.m.] MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero was elected on Monday as presiding officer of the impeachment court that will try the case against Vice President Sara Duterte. This is the second time Escudero will preside over Duterte’s impeachment trial. Escudero’s designation, however, drew strong objections from the Senate minority. On senator-judge Panfilo Lacson’s motion, 12 of 21 senator-judges voted to elect Escudero, while eight voted against it. Escudero did not participate in the voting. The election of the presiding officer was called by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian himself, who initially presided over the proceedings, which opened at 2:00 p.m. “Pursuant to Rule 2, paragraph 2 of the rules of of procedure on impeachment trials as amended, we now proceed to the election of the presiding officer of the impeachment court,” Gatchalian said. But as he was about to call Lacson for the election of the presiding officer, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano raised a point of order. “It is very clear in the Constitution of the Philippines that the Presiding Officer is the Senate President,” Cayetano said. Gatchalian pointed out, however, that the impeachment rules were amended during the June 3 session of the Senate as a legislative body and nobody objected at that time. Cayetano was still Senate president on June 3 until the chamber approved a motion to declare all seats vacant with 12 senators in attendance. According to the Senate chief, Cayetano should have objected when they amended the rules on June 3 in the plenary. At that time, however, Cayetano and his allies had been absent from June 1 to 3 as they protested the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in connection with the flood control scandal. Gatchalian then pushed for the election of the new presiding officer, despite repeated objections from Cayetano. “Objection Mr. President. I’m allowed to object and I’m allowed to explain my objection,” the minority leader said. Responding to Cayetano, Gatchalian said: “You’re allowed to object but we’ll proceed with the division of the house.” As Senate president, Escudero led the convening of the Senate as an impeachment court in June 2025 to hear the first impeachment case against Duterte. A month later, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment case initiated by the House of Representatives was unconstitutional. This prompted the Senate to archive the impeachment case against Duterte in August last year. In accordance with the one-year ban on the filing of impeachment cases, fresh complaints were lodged in the House early this year against the vice president. Duterte was then impeached anew by the House on May 11.