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Marc Jayson Cayabyab - The Philippine Star
May 24, 2025 | 12:00am
Sen. Bato dela Rosa (R) looks at Vice President Sara Duterte (L) as they attend the election campaign rally of senatorial candidates under the party of former Philippines' President Rodrigo Duterte in Manila on May 8, 2025, ahead of the country's midterm elections.
AFP / Jam Sta Rosa
MANILA, Philippines — Reelected Sen. Ronald dela Rosa has expressed confidence that the emerging Duterte bloc in the Senate will get more than enough votes to acquit Vice President Sara Duterte in her upcoming impeachment trial.
Speaking to Bilyonaryo News Channel on Wednesday, Dela Rosa said they already have more than nine senators on their side, based on the emerging composition of the incoming 20th Congress.
“I am confident of an acquittal because we are seeing our non-allies changing their stand. The numbers are growing as far as our side is concerned,” Dela Rosa said during the program “On Point.”
The STAR reached out to Dela Rosa yesterday to confirm his forecast, but he has yet to respond.
Dela Rosa refused to name the senators who are planning to vote to acquit Duterte even before evidence is presented by the House of Representatives prosecution panel before the Senate impeachment court, which is set to convene on June 3.
The full-blown trial is expected when the 20th Congress opens in July.
“I don’t want to name them and then make them change their stance depending on the course of the impeachment trial,” Dela Rosa said. “But as of now, I am confident we have more than nine votes.”
Vice President Duterte was impeached by the House for her alleged misuse of confidential funds and for her livestreamed remarks about an assassin she had contracted to kill President Marcos, First Lady Liza Marcos and Speaker Martin Romualdez.
Incoming senators who won the Senate race are preparing to sit as part of the impeachment court once the 20th Congress starts.
“I’m quite prepared,” senator-elect Tito Sotto told The STAR yesterday by text message.
Sotto, a former Senate president, vouched for his knowledge of impeachment rules, having sat through the trials of the late chief justice Renato Corona and deposed former president Joseph Estrada.
“It’s my fifth round and my third for the impeachment court. Nothing can best prepare you than experience,” Sotto said.
First-time senator-elect Erwin Tulfo said he has been brushing up on the rules and history of impeachment, “but at the end of the day, my decision will be based on the pieces of evidence submitted by the prosecution and the defense and affidavits of both sides.”
“Remember, the second highest official of the land will be tried, and that is no small matter,” Tulfo told The STAR yesterday.
Tulfo did not sign the impeachment complaint against Duterte when he was a House member, citing conflict of interest in case he succeeded in his Senate bid.
