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Cristina Chi - Philstar.com
May 15, 2026 | 10:54am
MANILA, Philippines — The House prosecution team believes the upheaval that has gripped the Senate over the past week is tied to the looming impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, one of its members said Friday, May 15.
Rep. Bel Zamora (San Juan), vice chair of the House justice panel and a member of the 11-person prosecution team, said the panel is "trying to not listen to the noise" amid its preparations. But she rejected any suggestion that the recent Senate coup is merely coincidental.
"Even if the chaos in the Senate had not happened — or after all that chaos in the past few days — the prosecutors would prepare the same way, with all the diligence needed to ensure a very good trial," Zamora said in FIlipino, in an interview with DZMM.
"Although admittedly, we know that these incidents happened to ... delay or have an effect on the impeachment," Zamora said.
Zamora pointed to the timing, wherein the Senate leadership coup unfolded on May 11, at the same time lawmakers in the lower chamber were voting on the articles of impeachment.
"We cannot say that this is isolated from the impeachment," she added.
The prosecutors will appear at the Senate on Monday when the chamber convenes as an impeachment court at 3 p.m., Zamora confirmed.
Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano, who replaced Sotto in the May 11 powergrab, has written Speaker Bojie Dy informing him that the chamber received the articles and will convene "absent any questions on procedure."
The prosecutors do not expect to read the articles aloud since these have already been transmitted, Zamora said.
"Baka mag-observe lang kami as they convene as the impeachment court," she added.
The prosecution panel has been reviewing footage of the 2012 impeachment trial of then-Chief Justice Renato Corona to anticipate how Monday's session will unfold, Zamora said.
Cayetano is pushing senators to adopt the existing Senate impeachment rules to avoid procedural delays, and Zamora said she does not expect resistance from his colleagues: "I don't think that anyone of them will question their own rules."
On preparations, she said the panel is operating like any other litigation team in that lining up witnesses and assigning specific roles for direct and cross-examination.
Asked about Rep. Keith Flores (Bukidnon), who abstained from the House impeachment vote but was still named to the prosecution panel, Zamora defended his inclusion.
"When you're a lawyer practicing litigation, whether you believe or not in the case... kailangan niyo gawin 'yung inyong trabaho," she said, adding that Flores' abstention reflected "where he is a resident of."
She also welcomed plans by civil society groups to set up a "People's Court" to track the proceedings, saying the legal terminology inside the Senate would be difficult for ordinary Filipinos to follow without help.
A drawn-out transmittal
The articles took two days to reach the Senate after the May 11 House vote — a delay that drew criticism from Sen. Imee Marcos, who accused the House of stalling.
She dismissed its explanation that "voluminous documents" needed to be reproduced and said the chamber had enough staff to do the job faster.
House Secretary General Cheloy Garafil said the secretariat was reproducing thousands of pages of attachments and that "the accuracy of our submission is our paramount concern."
The 2025 impeachment articles, by contrast, were transmitted to the Senate on the same day Duterte was first impeached on Feb. 5 of that year.
The articles were finally delivered to the Senate on Wednesday night, May 13 — the same evening that several gunshots rang out inside the building, which some say had given Sen. Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa cover to slip out of the premises before dawn.
A trolley of impeachment documents was wheeled into the complex while the Senate was on lockdown.
May 11 powergrab
The May 11 Senate coup, in which 13 senators voted to vacate all seats, was widely seen as a maneuver by allies of detained former President Rodrigo Duterte to take control of the chamber that will judge his daughter.
Sotto, who had vowed to act "forthwith" on the impeachment, was replaced by Cayetano, a longtime Duterte ally.
Sixteen of 24 senators must vote to convict for Duterte to be removed from office and perpetually disqualified from public office — a verdict that would derail her 2028 presidential bid.
