Senators to hold caucus for possible VP impeach trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate leadership called for an all-senator caucus yesterday afternoon to prepare for the possible transmittal of the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, after the House justice committee found probable cause.

The caucus was attended by senators from across the political spectrum – Senate President Vicente Sotto III, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson, Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Senators Risa Hontiveros, Pia Cayetano, Lito Lapid, Loren Legarda, Raffy Tulfo and Camille Villar from the majority bloc; and Sen. Robin Padilla from the minority.

Sotto said he met with the senators available to inform them of the need to prepare for the transmittal of the complaint.

And while the Supreme Court has officially defined the term “forthwith” in the 1987 Constitution provision on impeachment, for Sotto it still meant without delay.

He explained that the SC ruling was based on a petition assailing the first impeachment complaint that was later struck down as unconstitutional, not the upcoming one.

Sotto said the Senate under his leadership as Senate President is a separate branch of government which may still convene the impeachment court the soonest time possible without delay.

“The Supreme Court decision does not cover the work of the Senate. It doesn’t have anything to do with it. It doesn’t have anything to do with the work of the Senate. We’re a co-equal branch,” Sotto said.

“That’s why their decision is correct as far as that petition that was filed to them was concerned, not on the way the Senate is conducting itself,” he added.

Sotto said the Senate under his leadership – if the impeachment complaint is transmitted to them – “will act on it, ‘forthwith,’ which for me means ‘the following day.’”

“As soon as we receive it, then that’s the time we will officially decide on what to do with the timing. Definitely there’s one thing for sure: once we receive it, we will convene the following day as an impeachment court, he said.

Citing as a hypothetical example, Sotto said if the House transmits the complaint on May 11 or 12, the Senate can already convene the impeachment court on May 13.

“But that is all speculative. Let us wait for the Articles of Impeachment to be transmitted first. Then we discuss everything else,” he said.

For Lacson, the Senate’s sine die break won’t affect the looming impeachment trial of Vice President Duterte.

Lacson said that the impeachment court – once convened in May after the transmittal of the complaint – can still continue holding trial hearings well into the break.

“It will continue. The impeachment trial is separate from the session. So, the sine die adjournment will not in any way affect the schedule of the impeachment trial,” he said.

The Senate is currently on break and will resume session from May 4 to June 5. It will adjourn session sine die from June 6 to July 26, enough time for the impeachment proceedings to continue once convened in May.

As Senate accounts committee chair, Lacson said the Senate still has leftover budget from last year’s aborted impeachment trial to use in this year’s second bout.

Lacson said only P500,000 had been spent out of a P27-million allocation under the 2025 General Appropriations Act. The Senate last year had 60 impeachment judges robes made at P7,000 each, Lacson said.

“Since the fund is good for two years under ‘continuing appropriations,’ the Senate is financially able and ready to conduct the trial if and when the Articles of Impeachment are transmitted,” he added.

Objection

Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen objected to the ruling of the majority that the Senate acted “in a timely manner” in tackling the debunked Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Duterte in 2025 in compliance to the constitutional mandate to proceed “forthwith” with the impeachment trial.

Leonen maintained the Senate – which was constituted as an impeachment trial court – “should have been convened immediately,” according to a revised statement from the SC last April 29.

He added the Senate as an impeachment court, “not merely the Senate President,” should have taken charge of organizing the court.

Vindicated

The former spokesperson of the Senate impeachment court under then Senate president Francis Escudero said they felt vindicated after the Supreme Court agreed with their interpretation of “forthwith” as within reasonable time.

“The Supreme Court’s near-unanimous decision proves that under the leadership of then-Senate President Chiz Escudero, the Senate was right to choose constitutional prudence over the reckless haste demanded by so-called experts,” lawyer Regie Tongol said in a statement.

Tongol said the Supreme Court decision thus proved wrong the critics of the Escudero-led Senate impeachment court’s move not to immediately convene the court despite the 1987 Constitution provision for trial to “proceed forthwith.” — Ghio Ong