As Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial opened at the Senate on July 6, 2026, her lead defense counsel framed the proceedings as an attempt to overturn the will of the electorate — an argument that drew a swift rebuttal online from a prominent critic of the Vice President.
In her opening statement, defense lead counsel Sheila Sison told the senator-judges that the prosecution was seeking to remove a Vice President “chosen by an overwhelming number of the electorate,” stressing that Duterte was elected by more than 32 million Filipinos, more votes than President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. received and far more than any of the House members prosecuting her. The Philstar.com trial recap reported that Sison used the vote total to argue the case carried consequences not only for Duterte but for the voters who backed her.
Hours into the trial, disbarred lawyer Jesus Falcis posted a counter-argument on Facebook aimed at what he called the “32 Million false narrative.” In his post, Falcis wrote that 257 of 316 members of the House of Representatives — which he pegged at 82 percent of the chamber — voted to impeach Duterte, and that those lawmakers collectively represented “more than roughly 55 Million votes” out of the electorate. “55 Million > 32 Million,” his post read. In a follow-up comment, Falcis added that the once-allied Marcos and Duterte camps had since split, arguing that the 32-million tally should be viewed differently now that the “UniTeam” alliance had dissolved.
Falcis’s framing pits two sets of numbers against each other, though the figures he cites carry some imprecision. Duterte’s 32-million vote total dates to the May 2022 national elections, when the joint congressional canvass credited her with 32,208,417 votes for vice president — the most ever cast for any candidate in Philippine history — on a margin of roughly 22 million over her closest rival, Senator Francis Pangilinan. That same 2022 election drew a turnout of about 55 million voters, a figure Falcis’s post attributes instead to a “2025 Elections.” The Marcos-Duterte “UniTeam” ticket won the presidency and vice presidency together that year before the alliance collapsed amid a public feud between the two families.
The 257-vote figure refers to the House plenary vote on May 11, 2026, that transmitted the four articles of impeachment to the Senate; some outlets have reported the count as 255. Duterte faces charges covering alleged misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, and threats against Marcos, the First Lady, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. She denies wrongdoing and has characterized the impeachment as politically motivated.
Duterte did not personally attend the opening session, appearing instead through her legal team. Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero was elected presiding officer on a 12–8 vote after an extended dispute over Senate rules. A conviction requires the votes of at least 16 of the Senate’s 24 members, which would remove Duterte from office and bar her from public office — ending her announced 2028 presidential bid. The trial is expected to run for several months.
