MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero was elected on Monday as presiding officer of the impeachment court that will try the case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
This is the second time Escudero will preside over Duterte’s impeachment trial.
“As Presiding Officer, I shall do my part to uphold the fairness and integrity of this process, and shall see it through to its proper conclusion,” he said when he addressed the court.
“I did not seek nor did I ask for this responsibility. But neither will I shirk from fulfilling this duty without fear or favor,” the presiding officer added.
Escudero’s designation, however, drew strong objections from the Senate minority.
On senator-judge Panfilo Lacson’s motion, 12 of 21 senator-judges voted to elect Escudero, while eight voted against it.
The election of the presiding officer was called by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian himself, who initially presided over the proceedings, which opened at 2:00 p.m.
“Pursuant to Rule 2, paragraph 2 of the rules of of procedure on impeachment trials as amended, we now proceed to the election of the presiding officer of the impeachment court,” Gatchalian said.
But as he was about to call Lacson for the election of the presiding officer, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano raised a point of order.
“It is very clear in the Constitution of the Philippines that the Presiding Officer is the Senate President,” Cayetano said.
Further, the minority leader argued that any amendment in the rules should be presented on the floor a day before.
“There was not a one-day notice for the rules,” he pointed out. “And then if you look at the records, this impeachment court adopted the rules on May 18. So that means that it is this impeachment court that now has to adopt any amendment to the rules.”
As then Senate president, Cayetano presided over the convening of the impeachment trial of Duterte on May 18.
“So the point of order, Mr. President, is that amending the rules, implementing a null and void rule, and violating the Constitution will endanger this whole hearing, Mr. President,” Cayetano said.
“So please rule on the point of order, and I hope that the Senate President, who is more than able, will preside,” he added.
In response, Gatchalian pointed out that the impeachment rules were amended during the June 3 session of the Senate as a legislative body and nobody objected at that time.
Cayetano was still Senate president on June 3 until the chamber approved a motion to declare all seats vacant with 12 senators in attendance.
According to the Senate chief, Cayetano should have objected when they amended the rules in the plenary on June 3 through a resolution.
“During that time, on June 3 when we amended the rules, everyone had the opportunity to express their views regarding the proposed resolution and since no one objected, we adopted Resolution No. 430 and we numbered it to Resolution No. 40,” Gatchalian said.
“My view is, this resolution had been duly approved and everyone was given an opportunity to discuss that, to object. However, no one objected to that resolution and that it was duly approved by the body,” he further said.
Cayetano and his allies had been absent from June 1 to 3 as they protested the arrest of Sen. Jinggoy Estrada in connection with the flood control scandal.
Gatchalian later pushed for the election of the new presiding officer, despite repeated objections from Cayetano.
“Objection Mr. President. I’m allowed to object and I’m allowed to explain my objection,” the minority leader said.
Responding to Cayetano, Gatchalian said: “You’re allowed to object but we’ll proceed with the division of the house.”
As Senate president, Escudero led the convening of the Senate as an impeachment court in June 2025 to hear the first impeachment case against Duterte.
A month later, however, the Supreme Court ruled that the impeachment case initiated by the House of Representatives was unconstitutional.
This prompted the Senate to archive the impeachment case against Duterte in August last year.
In accordance with the one-year ban on the filing of impeachment cases, fresh complaints were lodged in the House early this year against the vice president.
