Five things to watch out for in the 20th Congress

By Guinevere Latoza
Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism

As the 20th Congress convenes, these five issues will likely define not just the next few years of Philippine politics, but potentially the direction of the country’s democracy.

1. Vice President Sara Duterte’s Trial: Will it Finally Happen?

The next round of the Marcos-Duterte family feud was expected to play out in Congress. But the Dutertes scored a win—and the possibility of a reprieve until February 2026 or even longer—in Friday’s Supreme Court ruling that temporarily banned an impeachment trial.

The Marcos-controlled House impeached Duterte last February, but a divided Senate has been delaying a trial, citing technicalities and remanding the impeachment complaint to the House.

Now the high court has unanimously ruled that the House impeachment complaint, filed on February 5, was invalid because the constitution bans the filing of an impeachment complaint against the same official during a one-year period. (The court said that last December, the House already archived—and dismissed—three impeachment complaints filed by private citizens against the vice-president.)

Some observers say that the ruling signals a thawing of the Marcos-Duterte family feud—a sign of a truce that allows the Marcoses to ease the growing tensions between the two families.

So will the trial even take place?

Does a Congress in thrall to the country’s two most powerful families have the gumption to hold  Sara Duterte to account for allegedly misusing more than P600 million in confidential funds, making death threats against the President and his family members, and for possible involvement in drug-war related killings?

How will the tiny progressive bloc in the 20th Congress, caught between two feuding families, play its cards? And what does all this mean for the country’s tarnished record of accountability?

2. Budget Meetings Behind Closed Doors: Time to Let the Public in?

The 2025 national budget, critics said, was the “most corrupt” in Philippine history. They flagged the huge cuts to the Department of Education and zero funds for the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation even as public money was directed to pork-barrel type projects that fattened the legislators’ patronage pots in an election year. These include increased funding for public works projects and cash aid programs.

Most of this redirection took place in secret bicameral meetings between the House and the Senate. At least three petitions challenging the budget’s constitutionality are now in the Supreme Court.

Good governance advocate Cielo Magno is pushing an #OpenBicam campaign to open closed-door bicam meetings—the most secretive stage of the budget process—to the public.

Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, who is poised to retain his position as house speaker, expressed openness to the proposal. Some senators have also voiced support.

But is Congress ready for transparency?

3. The Quadcom’s Next Act: What’s on the Agenda?

The most sensational public hearings in the 19th Congress were held by the “quadcom,” four House committees that held joint hearings into the police reward system during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war and cracked open the workings of POGOs, illegal gaming operations said to be hubs for online scams and human trafficking.

Live coverage of the quadcom hearings was avidly watched online and on TV. A high point was when Duterte threatened to hit former Senator Antonio Trillanes IV during one of the hearings. The House panel also got Duterte to say he took full responsibility for the killings.

The quadcom ended its hearings with the five proposed bills on extrajudicial killings, POGOs, land fraud, identity falsification and espionage.

The quadcom is expected to reconvene and expand its focus to other issues, including the case of the missing cockfighters and online gambling regulation.

Will the quadcom continue to generate interest? And will its hearing produce real changes, not

4. Congress Leadership: Will Romualdez and Escudero retain their positions?

The 20th Congress, like the 19th, will likely be a battleground between the two most powerful families in the country—the Marcoses and the Dutertes.

As House Speaker during the 19th Congress, presidential cousin Romualdez presided over the Duterte impeachment, passed a controversial budget, and approved a proposed constitutional amendment easing restrictions on foreign ownership of local businesses.

The Marcos government’s ability to advance its political and legislative agenda hinges on whether Romualdez can keep being Speaker. So far, reports say he has the votes of at least 291 out of 317 representatives despite grumblings from lawmakers from Visayas and Mindanao, known Duterte bailiwicks.

In the Senate, Escudero and Sotto have butted heads over the stalled impeachment trial. Sotto has also raised concerns over budget insertions that were supposedly intended to get some senators to support Escudero’s leadership.

5. A Long-Sought Reform: Will We Finally Get an Anti-Dynasty Law?

In 1987, the Philippines was emerging from dictatorship and entering a new era of restored democracy—one that promised to break away from the elite rule that marked Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s regime.

The Constitution ratified that year mandated Congress to pass a law prohibiting political dynasties. But nearly four decades later, no such law still exists and families rule.

The result of the last midterm elections confirm the increasing hold of families: 19 of the 24 senators and 80% of district representatives come from political clans. In addition, at least 18 obese political dynasties, families that have four or more elective positions, are now in power.

Despite this, electoral reform advocates, who have long opposed political dynasties, noted small signs of progress: Some challengers won against dynasties, others came close, and a few longstanding clans lost seats.

Some lawmakers—including Erwin Tulfo, himself from a political family—have voiced support for reviving efforts to pass an anti-dynasty law, following strong advocacy against families during the campaign.

Will the 20th Congress be able to pass an anti-dynasty law, something that all other Congresses post-Edsa failed to do? (PCIJ.org)