Duterte ouster bid hits wall as allies seize Philippine senate
The country’s vice-president faces four charges, including threatening to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr
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[MANILA] Allies of Vice-President Sara Duterte took power in the Senate of the Philippines on Monday (May 11), giving them control over the chamber that will conduct her impeachment trial – as the House of Representatives voted to move forward with the bid to oust her.
Majority of senators backed the leadership change, and then installed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano as the president of the senate.
The political manoeuvre came as the House approved a second impeachment case against Duterte, sending a strong signal that the trial could be stalled or lead to an acquittal.
A total of 255 lawmakers in the House voted in favour of impeachment, passing the threshold of a one-third vote required by the Constitution, a livestream of the proceedings showed.
An impeachment by the House would set the stage for Duterte’s trial in the 24-member senate, two-thirds of which would need to vote to convict her.
A senate conviction, which is far from certain, would ban her from politics for life and remove her from office.
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Heightened political stakes
Duterte’s allies were able to wrest control in the senate after Senator Ronald Rosa, who served as the top cop during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, showed up and voted in favour of the leadership change.
The senator, known by the nickname “Bato”, had been in hiding since late 2025 amid reports of a looming arrest warrant for his involvement in the previous administration’s deadly drug war.
The impeachment heightens the political stakes in a nation already rattled by a massive government corruption crisis and an oil-price shock stemming from the Middle East conflict.
With inflation surging, the South-east Asian country on May 7 reported its slowest economic expansion outside of the pandemic since 2009.
Froilan Calilung, who teaches political science at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, said the shake-up at the senate might lead to unnecessary delays in the impeachment proceedings.
“This will create a great deal of advantage for the vice-president,” he said.
“If conviction was difficult before Senate president Cayetano came to power, it would be even more difficult now.”
Marcos-Duterte rivalry dominates politics
Duterte is facing four charges, including misusing public funds and threatening to assassinate Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
She has denied any wrongdoing, claiming the charges are politically motivated.
The vice-president, daughter of former president Rodrigo Duterte, leads opinion polls as the most popular candidate to succeed Marcos when his six-year term expires in 2028.
She was impeached for the first time in February 2025, but the Supreme Court threw out the complaint on procedural grounds.
Marcos and Duterte teamed up to win the 2022 election but political differences caused their alliance to collapse.
Their rivalry has since dominated Philippine politics. In February, an impeachment effort against Marcos failed, after the justice committee found the underlying complaint was “insufficient in substance”.
The Philippines has a history of impeaching government officials, most notably former president Joseph Estrada and the late Chief Justice Renato Corona. BLOOMBERG
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