Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano said the Senate will act fast once it receives the impeachment charges against Vice President Sara Duterte from the House of Representatives.
Cayetano said he consulted with former Senate president Vicente Sotto III on what the correct moves were. “We’ll do what we have to do and there won’t be delays – you judge us by our actions,” he said.
He also stated he would call a meeting of the Senate majority as soon as the papers arrived so all groupings could agree on how to continue.
Cayetano warned that a long trial would prevent the Senate from doing other essential duties. The country requires us in various capacities,” he said.
Duterte was impeached by a 257–0 vote in the House, well above the 106 votes required. The House had tried to impeach her before in July 2025, but the Supreme Court threw it down because it violated the norm that an official cannot be impeached twice in one year.
Eleven legislators were selected as prosecutors. Five are new including former senators Leila de Lima and Chel Diokno.
The articles of impeachment have not yet been transmitted. The House secretariat is still printing thousands of pages and checking to make sure every copy is proper.
Duterte is facing charges of conspiring to murder President Marcos, concealing wealth, suspicious huge bank transactions and misuse of confidential funds. She denies any wrongdoing.
Malacañang said it hopes the senators will be fair in their trial. “We hope the judges, our senators, will be fair. This is for the people.”
