Marcos: Sara Duterte's impeach trial will clearly cross over to 20th Congress

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MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. believes the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte will clearly spill over into the 20th Congress.

In a rare moment, the president shared more of his personal stance on the matter. As a former senator-judge himself, he said starting the impeachment trial “is really a function of the Senate right now.” 

What Marcos made clear in previous interviews was that he never wanted his vice president impeached, even advising House members in late 2024 not to file any impeachment complaint against her. 

While he stopped short of explicitly endorsing it, Marcos does not object to the Senate’s impeachment proceedings. He said himself, there should be no controversy over the trial carrying over into the next Congress.

“Why? What is the controversy?” he told reporters on Tuesday, June 10. “It is very clear that it will [cross over] because there’s no way that even if they start the trial now, that they will finish it before the new senators come in.” 

The Senate has been under scrutiny for dragging its feet on the impeachment complaint — taking four months to act, pushing the trial to the final session day and introducing resolutions that could undermine the process entirely.

Some senators, including Sen. Francis Tolentino, have argued that the trial must conclude by June 30, citing Senate rules that state all legislative and pending matters at the end of each Congress shall be terminated. 

He even proposed a 19-day impeachment trial timeline, which House prosecutors said would not be enough for the amount of evidence they will present for all seven articles of impeachment. 

Sen. Robin Padilla, a Duterte ally, cited Tolentino’s argument in a resolution he filed to declare the impeachment process as “terminated.”

Legal luminaries and law schools have strongly rejected both the assertion that the Senate lacks continuity and the move to dismiss the impeachment process via resolution or motion. 

They argue that, unlike ordinary legislative or non-legislative business, impeachment is a “constitutional duty” that should persist beyond the adjournment of Congress. To proceed with the impeachment process is a show of due process being upheld, they stressed. 

Marcos said he is closely watching Senate President Chiz Escudero’s efforts to facilitate a peaceful transition between the 19th and 20th Congresses.

“[W]e’re watching of course what Senate President Chiz Escudero is doing to try to make it as peaceful a transition as possible from this Congress to the next,” he said.  

Although the president personally believes the impeachment trial should carry over into the next Congress, he also said, “Again, the senators will decide.”

Escudero took his oath as the presiding officer of the impeachment court on Monday, June 9, after hours of debate as to when the Senate should convene. 

This follows the two-member minority bloc’s motion to constitute and convene as an impeachment court before June 11 — a process that senators have picked apart. 

Senators are expected to take their oath as senator-judges on Tuesday, which will constitute the impeachment court but not convene it yet.

RELATED: Legal squabbles foil Senate minority bid to start Sara trial before June 11