‘MANIC MONDAY’: House votes to impeach VP Duterte amid surprise Senate shakeup

By Joseph Bernard A. Marzan

It was just another manic Monday in Philippine politics.

An overwhelming majority of the House of Representatives voted to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte at the Batasang Pambansa, but what no one saw coming was the coup d’état staged by her allies at the Senate in Pasay City.

With 255 votes in favor, 26 against, and 9 abstentions, the House plenary adopted House Resolution No. 989, which contained the Articles of Impeachment against the vice president.

As of this writing, full information on how members of the House voted is not yet known, but a few have already confirmed their votes.

Among Iloilo lawmakers, Reps. Janette Garin of the 1st District and Ferjenel Biron of the 4th District confirmed to Daily Guardian via Viber and text message, respectively, that they voted in favor of impeaching the vice president.

A verifiable source within the House of Representatives confirmed that all seven Ilonggo representatives voted in favor, as reported by Aksyon Radyo Iloilo.

These include Reps. Julienne Baronda of Iloilo City’s lone district, Kathryn Joyce Gorriceta of the 2nd District, Lorenz Defensor of the 3rd District, Binky April Tupas of the 5th District, and James Ang Jr. of Uswag Ilonggo Partylist.

Daily Guardian also reached out to these lawmakers, except Gorriceta, to verify the report, but they have yet to respond as of this writing.

Biron and Garin, who are deputy speakers, and Baronda and Defensor, who are deputy majority leaders, were among the 55 members who voted in the Justice committee on May 4 to advance the articles of impeachment to the House floor.

The committee’s Report No. 261, which details the panel’s deliberations and formally advocates for the adoption of House Resolution No. 989, enumerated six articles of impeachment:

• Article I: Systematic misuse, misappropriation, and irregular liquidation of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education;
• Article II: Failure to meet constitutional standards regarding unexplained wealth, Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net Worth (SALN) disclosures, and the failure to divest business interests while in office;
• Article III: Bribery and graft through the giving of monetary gifts to DepEd officials to influence procurement and financial approvals;
• Article IV: Contracting an assassin for high-ranking government officials, making grave threats, and inciting to sedition;
• Article V: Culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust, specifically regarding the possession of unexplained wealth and misdeclarations in SALNs; and
• Article VI: Other high crimes involving a pattern of abuse, violent rhetoric, and interference with civilian supremacy.

SENATE SHINDIG

Now that the full House of Representatives has voted to impeach the vice president, the tables turn to the Senate, which, under the Constitution, is tasked to sit as an impeachment court.

But as the House in Quezon City deliberated on its resolution, the Senate in Pasay City, by a simple majority, ousted Sen. Vicente Sotto III from the chamber’s presidency.

Then-Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano told reporters just before their session on Monday that there was no change in leadership being pushed.

As the afternoon drew to a close, however, he called for a vote to vacate all seats, effectively rendering all leadership positions open.

The high note of the moment was the arrival of Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who had not attended a session since November 2025.

Those who voted for Cayetano included his sister Pia and Senators Jinggoy Estrada, dela Rosa, Francis Escudero, Bong Go, Loren Legarda, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, Joel Villanueva, and siblings Camille and Mark Villar.

Those voting to retain Sotto included Senators Bam Aquino, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Kiko Pangilinan, and brothers Erwin and Raffy Tulfo.

Sens. JV Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri abstained.

Notably, Zubiri’s wife, Rep. Audrey Zubiri of Bukidnon’s 3rd District, was also one of the nine abstentions on the impeachment in the House.

As the session began, the younger Cayetano became Senate President, with Legarda as President pro tempore and Villanueva as acting majority leader.

In his speech, the new Senate President highlighted the need for unity to solve the country’s problems, without any hint of how the impeachment trial of the vice president would go.

“We want to be free from poverty. We want to be free from corruption. We want to be free from a government that is busy fighting its own people or the people fighting each other. This is not social media, where there are fights every minute. In real life, we have to be here with each other,” Cayetano said.

But the day was far from over, as former senator Antonio Trillanes IV brought a purported copy of the International Criminal Court’s warrant against dela Rosa.

The ICC had recently stated that there was no public warrant against dela Rosa, who was tagged as one of the perpetrators of extrajudicial killings, together with former president Rodrigo Duterte, who has been detained by the international court for a year.

It was then that dela Rosa was rushed into hiding from alleged agents of the National Bureau of Investigation.

Cayetano also ordered the Senate under lockdown and was later placed under the protective custody of the chamber after a motion by Marcoleta.