Duterte outflanks Marcos with surprise plot to sink impeachment

Andreo Calonzo, Cliff Venzon and Ditas B Lopez, Bloomberg News on May 11, 2026

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Allies of Philippines’ Vice President Sara Duterte took power in the Senate on Monday, giving them control over the chamber that will conduct her impeachment trial as the House of Representatives voted to move forward with the bid to oust her.

Duterte-aligned senators mounted a surprise Senate takeover, and installed Senator Alan Peter Cayetano to head the chamber on Monday. The maneuver preceded the House of Representatives’ approval of a second impeachment case against the vice president, sending a strong signal that the trial at the Senate could be stalled or lead to an acquittal.

Still, a total of 257 House members voted in favor of impeachment, which accuses Duterte of plotting to assassinate President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., among other charges.

The turnout far exceeds the threshold required by the constitution for a one-third vote of the entire chamber, which is dominated by allies of Marcos.

A conviction, which would require a two-thirds vote in the 24-member Senate, would ban Duterte from politics for life and remove her from office.

The vice president’s looming trial heightens political risks in a nation already rattled by a massive government corruption crisis and an oil-price shock stemming from the Middle East conflict. With inflation surging, the Southeast Asian country last week reported its slowest economic expansion outside of the pandemic since 2009.

The Philippine peso weakened 0.9%, the second-worst performer in Asia on Monday. The currency is expected to sink to new lows against the dollar as economic woes pile up.

Duterte is facing four charges, including misusing public funds and threatening to assassinate Marcos. She’s denied any wrongdoing, claiming the charges are politically motivated.

The vice president, daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, has declared her presidential ambition and leads opinion polls as the most popular candidate to succeed Marcos when his six-year term expires in 2028. She was impeached for the first time in February 2025, but the Supreme Court threw out the complaint on procedural grounds.

Froilan Calilung, who teaches political science at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila, said the shakeup at the Senate may lead to unnecessary delays in the impeachment proceedings.

“This will create a great deal of advantage for the vice president,” he said. “If conviction was difficult before Senate President Cayetano came to power, it would be even more difficult now.”

Duterte’s allies were able to wrest control in the upper chamber after Senator Ronald dela Rosa, who served as the top cop during the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte, showed up and voted in favor of the leadership change.

The senator, known by the nickname “Bato,” had been in hiding since late last year amid reports of a looming arrest warrant for his involvement in the previous administration’s deadly drug war.

Marcos and Duterte teamed up to win the 2022 election but political differences caused their alliance to collapse. Their rivalry has since dominated Philippine politics. In February, an impeachment effort against Marcos failed after the justice committee found the underlying complaint was “insufficient in substance.”

The Philippines has a history of impeaching government officials, most notably former President Joseph Estrada and the late Chief Justice Renato Corona.

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—With assistance from Cecilia Yap, Neil Jerome Morales, Claire Jiao and Adrian Kennedy.