Metro Manila, Philippines – On the first day of the historic impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday, July 6, the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, elected a new presiding officer and resolved key procedural matters, including ordering the return of the sealed box containing the respondent’s tax records.
NewsWatch Plus breaks down the court’s key rulings at the start of the proceedings, ahead of the presentation of witnesses and evidence.
Presiding officer
Shortly after the court convened at 2 p.m., Senate President Win Gatchalian initiated the election of a presiding officer.
Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who had long been floated for the role, was elected presiding officer in a 12-8 vote after Senator Ping Lacson nominated him.
Voting in favor were the majority, namely, Gatchalian, Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito, Risa Hontiveros, Lacson, Lito Lapid, Kiko Pangilinan, Tito Sotto, Erwin Tulfo, Raffy Tulfo, Joel Villanueva, and Migz Zubiri.
Voting against were Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano, Pia Cayetano, Bong Go, Loren Legarda, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, Camille Villar, and Mark Villar.
Escudero previously presided over the short-lived impeachment proceedings against Duterte in 2025, which ended when the Supreme Court declared the impeachment complaint unconstitutional.
Cayetano strongly opposed Escudero’s election, arguing that the Constitution requires the Senate president to preside over the impeachment court.
While the Senate impeachment rules originally designated the Senate president to preside over impeachment trials involving officials other than the president, the rules were amended during the June 3 session to allow the election of another senator as presiding officer. Cayetano has questioned the validity of that amendment before the Supreme Court.
Later in the proceedings, Gatchalian directed the court stenographers to strike from the record Cayetano’s remarks against Escudero after ruling them out of order.
Conviction threshold
In his opening remarks as presiding officer, Escudero maintained that 16 votes remain necessary to convict Duterte, consistent with the Constitution’s requirement that conviction must be supported by two-thirds of all Senate members, despite the continued absence of three senators.
Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada are detained while facing non-bailable plunder charges before the Sandiganbayan, while Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa remains in hiding from an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court.
“The Constitution provides that no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate. With twenty-four members of the Senate, a literal interpretation of this means that conviction requires the affirmative vote of at least sixteen Senator-Judges,” Escudero said.
“This literal interpretation finds direct support in the 2000 case of Bayan v. Zamora, which concerned the Senate’s compliance with the two-thirds vote required to concur in a treaty despite having only 23 incumbent senators at the time,” he added.
Escudero, however, said parties can bring the matter up to the Supreme Court.
Duterte tax records
Meanwhile, Escudero ordered the sealed box containing Duterte’s tax records returned to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), citing two reasons: there was no lawful order authorizing its transfer to the Senate, and the documents had not yet been offered or marked as evidence.
“The chair therefore orders that the BIR box closed, sealed and as it is received be sent back to the BIR without prejudice to any action that the court may take,” he said, noting that it should be returned to the agency on Tuesday, July 7.
The sealed box first surfaced during the House justice committee’s clarificatory hearing in April while lawmakers were determining probable cause to impeach Duterte. The committee deferred opening it after the BIR raised confidentiality concerns, citing possible violations of the National Internal Revenue Code.
Escudero said either party may later move for the court to subpoena the documents.
In a press briefing, lead prosecutor Jinky Luistro said the prosecution had already filed a motion seeking an “expanded list” of BIR records.
“Mas marami ang nire-request namin na BIR records compared doon sa nilalaman ng sealed BIR box,” she said.
[Translation: We’re requesting more BIR records compared to what the sealed box contains.]
Examination of witnesses
The impeachment court partially granted the prosecution’s request to allow up to two lawyers to examine a single witness, but only under “highly exceptional” circumstances.
The request stemmed from the prosecution’s motion seeking permission for one public prosecutor and one private prosecutor to jointly examine a witness.
The court said the one-prosecutor rule to examine a witness was meant to speed up the administration and delivery of justice.
Subpoenas
The impeachment court issued subpoenas to two National Bureau of Investigation personnel scheduled to testify later this week.
They are NBI Regional Director Jeremy Lotoc and Special Investigator John Mark Calilung, who are expected to testify on the impeachment article involving Duterte’s alleged threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and members of his family.
Meanwhile, the prosecution also moved to subpoena the bank records of Duterte and her husband, Mans Carpio. The court ordered that the motion be furnished to the defense and set the matter for oral arguments.
