Chiz Escudero seen to preside over Sara Duterte's impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate majority bloc has initially agreed to elect Sen. Chiz Escudero as presiding officer for the upcoming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said Wednesday, June 17.

"As per our consensus as of this morning, we will elect Senator Chiz Escudero if we convene again as impeachment court to be the presiding officer," Lacson told reporters on the sidelines of the first special session of Congress.

Escudero's appearance at the Senate plenary on June 3 enabled the rival bloc led by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to conduct a leadership shakeup and declare all positions vacant with a quorum of 12 senators. The move eased out then-Senate president Alan Peter Cayetano, whose bloc Escudero previously belonged.

Lacson said majority bloc senators—who on Wednesday installed Gatchalian as Senate president—considered Escudero's background as a lawyer and his experience in handling impeachment proceedings, having served as presiding officer in Duterte's 2025 impeachment case.

He said, however, that the decision is not yet final and may still change.

Lawyer-senator as presiding officer

Newly installed Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian earlier confirmed that either Escudero or Sen. Kiko Pangilinan was being considered for the position, as both are lawyers.

Under recent amendments to the Senate impeachment rules, the Senate president is no longer automatically designated as presiding officer. Instead, any senator may be elected to the post by a majority vote of the chamber.

The majority bloc's decision was also based on Sen. Tito Sotto's earlier suggestion to assign the task of overseeing the impeachment trial to a lawyer-senator.

Escudero served as presiding officer when the Senate convened as an impeachment court for Duterte in June 2025. His handling of the proceedings drew criticism after the Senate returned the Articles of Impeachment to the House instead of proceeding directly to trial.

Critics had accused the Senate under Escudero of delaying action on the impeachment case, citing the constitutional requirement for the Senate to act "forthwith."

Escudero is also facing a plunder complaint before the Office of the Ombudsman over allegations that he received P586 million in kickbacks from flood control projects. He has denied the allegations.

Trial timeline. The 2026 impeachment trial against Duterte is expected to begin on July 6.

A pretrial conference, to be attended by House prosecutors and the vice president's camp, is scheduled on Thursday, June 18.

Duterte is facing allegations of graft and corruption, unexplained wealth, bribery and grave threats.