The Senate is bracing for the imminent arrival of the Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte, with Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano pledging on Tuesday, May 12, that the chamber will move without delay once the documents land.
Cayetano said he intends to convene a majority caucus immediately upon receiving the transmittal, a step he described as necessary to avoid any perception that the process is being driven by a single bloc.
“I don’t know what time we’ll receive (the transmittal) that’s why I want a majority caucus so it’s not a decision of only one group,” he said.
The Senate president added that he had sought guidance from former Senate president Vicente Sotto III on the procedural requirements ahead of the trial.
“I consulted also Senator Sotto… So, we will do what has to be done and there won’t be delays, you judge us on our actions,” Cayetano said.
He also flagged the institutional cost of a drawn-out process, noting that the Senate’s legislative work stands to suffer the longer the impeachment proceedings consume the chamber’s attention.
“We won’t delay. There’s no reason, right? The country needs us in other capacities,” he said. “The longer this drags out, the longer our attention is on it. But it’s such an important accountability process, so we will give it full attention.”
Sotto had separately signaled that the Senate was already making preparations, saying the chamber would act with dispatch the moment it received the complaint.
The transmittal itself remains pending. House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil said the Secretariat is still processing the documents, which she described as running into thousands of pages.
“The Articles of Impeachment and their attachments are currently being reproduced, collated and checked to ensure that all copies are appropriately organized to ensure that each copy is a faithful reproduction of what was approved by the House of Representatives. The accuracy of our submission is our paramount concern,” Garafil said.
Duterte was impeached by 257 members of the House — more than twice the 106-vote threshold required — on charges that include an alleged plot to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., undeclared wealth, suspicious multi-billion-peso bank transactions, and questionable use of confidential funds. She has denied all wrongdoing.
Malacañang, for its part, expressed confidence that the Senate would handle the proceedings impartially. Presidential Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said the House’s decision appeared to have been grounded in evidence reviewed by its members.
“We hope once it reaches the Senate, the judges, our senators will be fair. This is for the people,” Castro said.
This marks the second impeachment attempt against Duterte. The first, initiated in July 2025, was struck down by the Supreme Court for violating the constitutional rule barring the initiation of impeachment proceedings against the same official more than once within a twelve-month period.
