For whom Alan Peter Cayetano trolls

By Herbert Vego

FORMER Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano was obviously lying when he denounced the 13 members of the new Senate majority for being lapdogs of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. As such, they would manipulate the forthcoming impeachment trial to convict Vice President Sara Duterte for culpable violation of the Constitution, bribery, graft and corruption, and betrayal of public trust.

Let us see why the facts belie his accusation.

To recall, the 13 majority senators are Sherwin Gatchalian (Senate President), Panfilo Lacson (Senate President Pro Tempore), Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri (Majority Floor Leader), JV Ejercito (Senior Deputy Majority Leader), Joel Villanueva (Deputy Majority Floor Leader ), Kiko Pangilinan, Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, Chiz Escudero, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Risa Hontiveros and Bam Aquino.

To say they are stooges of Marcos is sweeping. On the contrary, most of them had been very close to the former President, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, and the incumbent impeachment respondent, Vice President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Only Pangilinan, Risa Hontiveros and Bam Aquino are identified as anti-Duterte but are not Marcos loyalists.

Let us not forget who has proven himself to be a die-hard Duterte loyalist.

Do you remember that it was then-Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano who spearheaded a legislative maneuver in May 2025 to abort and halt the immediate trial of the first impeachment case filed by the House of Representatives against Vice President Sara Duterte?

Instead of an outright dismissal, the Senate voted 18-5 to remand and archive the articles of impeachment.

Remember when, on October 1, 2025, 15 or most of our 24 senators signed a resolution appealing to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to consider placing former President Rodrigo Duterte under house arrest wherever in the Philippines due to his age and health condition?

They were Alan Peter Cayetano, Migz Zubiri, Imee Marcos, Robinhood Padilla, Rodante Marcoleta, Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, Jinggoy Estrada, Christopher “Bong” Go, Francis “Chiz” Escudero, Sherwin Gatchalian, Loren Legarda, Erwin Tulfo, JV Ejercito, Panfilo Lacson, Joel Villanueva, and Mark Villar.

Cayetano, in sponsoring the measure, said, “It is not against the tenet of human rights to allow any person, especially a former president, to be under house arrest, especially in the condition of President Duterte who is 80 years old.”

Hontiveros, in opposing the resolution, stressed there was no indication that the ICC was neglecting detainees’ welfare and health.

The ICC Appeals Chamber unanimously rejected the 15 senators’ request for Duterte’s interim release, citing flight risk, the ability of his family to help him elude prosecution, and his ongoing threat to interfere with investigations.

Now, does Cayetano fear that the other 14 senators who had sought for the former President’s interim release would ironically convict Inday Sara in the Senate impeachment trial to kick off on July 6, 2026?

No way, since it would take 16 or two-thirds of the total number (24) of senators to convict VP Sara and thereafter oust her from her position and ban her from further occupying a public office.

However, as far as Cayetano’s successor, Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, is concerned, the outcome of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial should depend entirely on the evidence presented by both the prosecution and the defense. They are constitutionally mandated to hear the case, and therefore will have to base their decisions strictly on the facts and arguments laid out on the floor.

It is said that the senators in Senate-turned-Impeachment Court are “political animals” who would either convict or acquit the impeached based on emotion, not evidence.

However, they themselves could be judged by the court of public opinion based on their performance as senator judges.

This ought to be taken seriously by the 12 incumbent senators (elected in May 2022) – whether belonging to the majority group or the minority — who are qualified to run for re-election in 2028, namely Alan Peter Cayetano, Gatchalian, Ejercito, Escudero, Estrada, Hontiveros, Legarda, Padilla, Raffy Tulfo, Villanueva, Mark Villar, and Zubiri.

So, convict?  Or acquit?