FALSE: Only the Senate President can preside over VPSD’s impeachment trial

During the first day of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano questioned the move to have Sen. Chiz Escudero replace Senate President Win Gatchalian as the presiding officer, citing the Senate Resolution No. 48 as ‘null and void.’

CLAIM: 

Under the constitution, the Senate president must be the only one who presides over the impeachment trial of the Vice president Sara Duterte.

RATING: FALSE

CONCLUSION:
The 1987 Constitution does not expressly require the Senate President to be the only one to reside. It only allows the designation of a presiding officer if the one on trial is the president. It also allows the Congress to adopt new rules on impeachment proceedings.

THE FACTS

• On June 10, 2026, with Senate Resolution No. 48, it amended Rule II of the Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Trials. This then allows the Senate to elect a new presiding officer by a majority vote of the members present.
• Historically, the Senate president has presided over impeachment cases. But with Article XI, Section 3(8) of the 1987 Constitution, the changes done for the governing impeachment proceedings are practiced. 
• On the first day of Duterte’s impeachment trial, Senator Chiz Escudero was elected as the presiding officer after a total of 12 senators voted in favor and 8 against it.
• University of the Philippines College of Law associate dean and constitutional law professor Paolo Tamase says that should the Senate rules provide a different presiding officer, such policy judgment must be respected under the Constitution.

THE BOTTOMLINE:

The 1987 Constitution does not explicitly say that the Senate President should be the presiding officer of VPSD’s impeachment trial and that the issue brought by Sen. Cayetano must be interpreted in terms of the Senate’s rules.