Impeachment complaints lodged by community groups in December 2024 were examined by the House of Representatives and forwarded to the Senate in February 2025, but the Senate delayed convening the trial despite demands for an immediate start.
On June 10, 2025, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero sent the articles of impeachment back to the House, and the Supreme Court later ruled on July 25, 2025 that the complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte was unconstitutional, invoking a one‑year bar that prevents new complaints until February 6, 2026.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s 2025 State of the Nation Address highlighted irregularities in flood‑control projects that allegedly diverted roughly P118 billion to a network of favored contractors, lawmakers and officials.
Amid the scandal, Senate President Escudero was removed from his post on September 8, 2025; his campaign had received a P30 million donation from a contractor named among the top fifteen awardees in the flood‑control contracts.
Following the ouster, Vicente “Tito” Sotto was elected Senate President, Ping Lacson became Senate president pro tempore, and Miguel “Migz” Zubiri assumed the role of majority leader, while the former leaders faced allegations linked to the same project.
From September through November 2025, daily protests erupted across the country, with the “Trillion Peso March” demanding an end to corruption and calling for the resignation of both President Marcos and Vice President Duterte, as well as the creation of a civilian‑led transition council.
Supporters of President Marcos organized counter‑demonstrations, while divisions grew within the opposition as some groups continued to demand Marcos’s resignation but stopped short of calling for Duterte’s removal.
By the end of 2025, the alliance between President Marcos and Vice President Duterte had fractured, with impeachment proceedings and political attacks deepening the rift that once defined their joint platform.
Marcos restructured the National Security Council and removed Duterte from its membership; Duterte subsequently hinted at a possible presidential bid in 2028.
The House voted overwhelmingly on February 6, 2025 to impeach Duterte based on investigations into the misuse of confidential funds by the Vice President’s office and the Department of Education, while the National Bureau of Investigation filed criminal cases related to an alleged assassination plot.
Duterte was arrested on March 11‑12, 2025 after returning from Hong Kong to face the International Criminal Court, a move Marcos defended as unrelated to political persecution.
In the May 2025 mid‑term elections, only three candidates from the PDP‑Laban “DuterTEN” slate secured Senate seats, while two candidates endorsed by Duterte, including Imee Marcos, also won, leaving the Senate split between the two factions.
After the one‑year prohibition expired, four impeachment complaints were filed on February 23, 2026; the House Committee on Justice found probable cause on April 29, and the full House approved impeachment on May 11, transmitting the articles to the Senate.
Before the articles could reach the Senate, a leadership shift occurred: Duterte‑aligned senators removed Senate President Sotto and installed Alan Peter Cayetano as the new Senate President, following the surprise appearance of Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, who had been in hiding to avoid an ICC arrest warrant.
Dela Rosa sought Senate protective custody, prompting a temporary lockdown; the Supreme Court declined to issue interim measures, and Dela Rosa later left the chamber, claiming imminent arrest by the National Bureau of Investigation.
Thirteen Duterte‑supporting senators backed Cayetano’s election, but their majority eroded after the arrest of Senator Jinggoy Estrada and Dela Rosa’s return to hiding; eleven senators boycotted sessions to block the impeachment trial.
Escudero ended the boycott on June 3, allowing a quorum to be reached and leading to the temporary election of Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President.
The Senate formally convened as an impeachment court on May 18, and the trial officially began on July 6, with Gatchalian opening the proceedings and emphasizing the duty of impartial justice.
Following a constitutional challenge, Escudero was appointed presiding officer of the trial and set the conviction threshold at sixteen votes, citing a Supreme Court precedent that interprets “all members” of the 24‑member Senate as the basis for the two‑thirds requirement.
Legal analysts note that even if the threshold were lowered to account for disqualified members, the fragmented Senate composition makes it unlikely that the necessary votes for conviction will be attained.
A recent survey indicates that nearly three‑quarters of Filipinos support the impeachment trial, reflecting a public demand for accountability and justice.
