07/07/2026
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𝐍𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐒𝐈𝐒: 𝐀 𝐑𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐬 𝐃𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐓𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬
𝗗𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗲'𝘀 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗪𝗼𝗻 𝗥𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗢𝗻𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗜𝘁 𝗪𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗖𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲
𝗠𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗟𝗔, July 6 — Sara Duterte didn't bother showing up to her own impeachment trial on Monday. She didn't need to. Her lawyers did the work for her, and by the time the gavel came down on Day 1, the prosecution had almost nothing to show for the eleven House members and fifteen private lawyers it threw at the case.
No witness testified. No evidence got in. And on the single number that will decide whether Duterte actually loses her job, the presiding officer sided against the prosecution outright.
Call it what it was: a rough, one-sided opening day for the people trying to remove a sitting vice president.
𝘖𝘯𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯: 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘪𝘦𝘤𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯'𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘶𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘮, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐧𝐬, 𝐄𝐧𝐮𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝
𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘅 𝗯𝗼𝘅 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗼𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝘁.
Presiding Officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero, freshly elected to run the court, ordered the sealed BIR box containing Duterte's and her husband's tax records shipped straight back to the tax bureau. His reasoning was almost clinical: the box sat with the Senate, sure, but the court was "not yet in custodia legis" of it, since nobody had lawfully ordered it turned over and nobody had entered it into evidence. That box was supposed to be the backbone of the unexplained wealth charge. Instead, it left the building unopened.
𝟮. 𝗡𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁. 𝗡𝗼 𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗮. 𝗡𝗼 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁.
Prosecutors wanted Duterte formally arraigned right there in the chamber. Defense counsel Sheila Sison wasn't having it. "Respondent accused is here, has attended through counsel," she told the court, and pointed out that nothing in Senate rules forces Duterte to stand up and hear the charges read aloud in person. The court agreed. That's a full news cycle prosecutors don't get.
𝟯. 𝗦𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗻𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁.
Duterte's team announced early that she'd sit this one out and let her lawyers handle it. No cameras catching her reaction, no viral clip of her squirming under questioning. Just an empty chair where prosecutors wanted a defendant.
𝟰. 𝗔 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱.
The session burned through electing a presiding officer, entering appearances, and fighting over motions. Every minute spent on process is a minute the prosecution doesn't get to tell its story to the public, and this is exactly the kind of grinding, technical fight where a defense bench full of seasoned litigators eats a House prosecution team alive.
𝟱. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗮𝘆.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian opened things with careful, down-the-middle language about deciding based on the Constitution and the evidence alone. Then Sison took the floor and reminded everyone that the Supreme Court had already torched the first impeachment attempt for being exactly the kind of political overreach she said this one risks becoming, warning against turning the trial into a tool for "partisan interests." The defense got its narrative on the record before the prosecution said a word about the actual allegations.
𝐒𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟔-𝐕𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐑𝐮𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲
Forget the box for a second. The number that matters most in this whole trial just got locked in, and it got locked in the defense's favor.
Three Senate seats are functionally dead right now. Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are sitting in detention on non-bailable plunder raps. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa is hiding from an International Criminal Court warrant. That leaves 21 senator-judges who can actually show up and vote. The prosecution saw an opening there and tried to take it: if a senator physically can't participate, the argument went, why should they still count toward the total needed to convict? Lead prosecutor Gerville Luistro made that case plainly, arguing that only senators who can attend, participate, and vote truly represent the people.
Escudero killed it. Citing the Supreme Court's decision in Bayan v. Zamora, he ruled that the Constitution fixes the Senate at 24 members, full stop, regardless of how many seats are currently empty in practice. The two-thirds threshold stays exactly where it's always been: 16 votes.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝗺𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗰𝘀, 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁: Article XI, Section 3(6) demands "the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate" for conviction. Article VI, Section 2 sets that membership at 24. Escudero read "all the Members" as the number written into the Constitution, not whoever happens to be sitting in the chamber that week. Run the math and the effect is brutal for the prosecution: with only 21 senators able to vote, they now need roughly 76 percent of everyone present to say guilty, instead of the 67 percent they'd need if the pool simply shrank with attendance. And here's the kicker. The longer Estrada, Marcoleta, and Dela Rosa stay out of commission, the harder the prosecution's job gets, not easier. Time is quietly working against them. Escudero did leave himself an exit, noting that if the Supreme Court eventually disagrees, "this court and this representation shall faithfully abide by that ruling," but until that happens, the defense just banked the single most important number in the entire trial.
Given that Duterte's strongest allies in the chamber are the same senators currently detained or hiding, this ruling protects the exact bloc she needs most. It's not an exaggeration to call this the day's biggest win, bigger than the box, bigger than the arraignment fight.
