Sara Duterte trial recap, July 6: Fiery openings, settled questions

MANILA, Philippines  — The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte opened Monday, July 6, with Sen. Chiz Escudero ascending as presiding officer and the defense and prosecution using their opening salvos to argue what the trial is all about: betrayed public trust, or an "abuse" of the impeachment process.  

Heading into the start of the witness presentation tomorrow, Escudero moved to settle questions that had hung over the proceedings for weeks, foremost the number of votes needed to convict.

This, after Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian pressed through the election of a presiding officer over objections from the Cayetano brother-and-sister that took up more than an hour of the session.

Duterte, the first vice president to stand trial for impeachment, faces four articles covering alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery and threats to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. 

The vice president, who skipped the proceedings today, was at a "planning session" with her office to prepare for Super Typhoon Bavi, said Michael Poa, spokesperson of her defense, less than an hour before trial begun. 

1. An hour-long fight before the gavel changed hands

From the outset, senators Alan Peter and Pia Cayetano moved repeatedly to block the election of a new presiding officer for the impeachment court.

Both argued the Constitution allows only the Senate president to preside over an impeachment trial.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, however, rejected their arguments and anchored the election on the June 3 amendment to the Senate's impeachment rules, which opened the chair to a senator other than the Senate president. 

The motion passed without objection, Gatchalian noted, and the amended rules were published in newspapers on June 9. 

Challenges to the resolution should be in the legislative plenary, Gatchalian added.

The Senate reorganization that took place June 3 has been challenged by the Cayetano bloc before the Supreme Court. 

On that day, 12 senators convened after the Cayetano group's three-day boycott of session, declared all posts vacant and installed Gatchalian as acting Senate president. 

The Cayetano bloc's pending petition seeks to void everything it produced, including the amended rules Gatchalian invoked Monday. 

The debate ate up more than an hour before the election proceeded over Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano's repeated objections.

Senator-judges voted 12-8 for Escudero.

But Escudero's return to the rostrum carries its own testy history on both sides of the political spectrum. 

As Senate president in June 2025, he presided over — and voted with — the 18-5 majority that sent the first set of impeachment articles against Duterte back to the House, on a motion by Alan Peter Cayetano, before the Supreme Court voided that impeachment. 

However, he is also the senator whose surprise appearance on June 3 gave the Gatchalian bloc its 12th member, breaking the deadlock that made the Senate reorganization possible.

2. Prosecution points to Duterte's own words; defense invokes her overwhelming mandate 

Rep. Jinky Luistro (Batangas, 2nd District), delivering the prosecution's opening statement, said the four articles of impeachment against Duterte are "four chapters of the same story" of public trust betrayed.

Prior to the opening statement, the House prosecution panel had introduced all 11 of its members. The 14 private lawyers acting as their counsel also formally entered their appearance before the court. 

"The prosecution will present exactly what the Constitution requires: evidence, not propaganda; narrative evidence; official records; financial documents; government reports; video recordings; statements under oath; independent findings of institutions created by law; constitutional order," Luistro said.

"But these are not four separate stories. These are four chapters of the same story—a story about power exercised without accountability, a story about public trust betrayed, a story about a public office that stopped answering to the public," she added.

The evidence to be presented in the trial, Luistro said, will show more than P612 million in confidential funds entrusted to Duterte's offices were dispersed and liquidated "under circumstances that cannot withstand scrutiny."

On the threat charges, Luistro said the case rests on Duterte's own recorded public statements. "The court will see them. The court will hear them. The court will judge them," she said. 

"The Constitution provides many means on how to resolve political conflict: election, legislation, public debate, judicial review, and even impeachment. But it does not permit threats. It does not permit violence," Luistro added.

Defense counsel Sheila Sison in her opening speech highlighted that Duterte is a vice president elected by more than 32 million Filipinos—more votes than the sitting president received and far more than any of the House members prosecuting her. 

Sison invoked the Supreme Court's July 2025 ruling that voided the first impeachment for grave abuse of discretion. She accused the House justice committee of previously running a "mini trial" that "curated" evidence against Duterte before the case reached the Senate. 

"[While] impeachment is a powerful democratic process to call out corruption and grave abuse, impeachment can be abused and that impeachment should never be abused to maintain the hegemonic dominance of greed by shaming those who occupy high government positions into preventing them from doing what they were sworn to do," Sison said.

"We therefore should not lose sight of the core principle that the burden of proof is on the prosecution and unless it discharges that burden, the accused need not even offer evidence on her behalf and she will be entitled to an acquittal," Sison added.

3. Chiz as chair settles pending questions

Escudero as presiding officer swiftly addressed several questions that the pre-trial left hanging, such as the votes needed to convict and the sealed box of Duterte's tax records.

On the threshold to convict. He declared that conviction requires an absolute minimum of 16 affirmative votes, regardless of absent senators.  

There's been considerable debate on whether the threshold to convict Duterte needs to be re-computed amid recent arrests of senators.

Three Duterte-allied senators are now presumed unable to appear before the chamber for the trial: 

• Sen. Rodante Marcoleta was arrested on plunder charges hours before the trial opened
• Sen. Jinggoy Estrada is currently detained and suspended over the flood control case filed against him 
• Sen. Bato dela Rosa is tagged a fugitive and is hiding from an International Criminal Court warrant

Their absences had spawned talk of dropping the bar to convict to 14 or 15 votes, which would have favored the prosecution.

On the BIR box and witnesses. Escudero as court presiding officer also ordered the return of the green box containing Duterte's tax records to the Bureau of Internal Revenue. 

"This box was turned over to the Senate as part of the documents, including the Articles of Impeachment. However, the Court is not yet in custodia legis of this box, given that there is no lawful order issued by the court for this box to be turned over," Escudero said.

The court presiding officer also affirmed the "one counsel, one witness" rule in the Senate's impeachment rules, allowing two lawyers only in highly exceptional instances.

The trial resumes Tuesday, July 7, at 2 p.m., when the prosecution calls its first witnesses.