Joselito Malig

Article (news)

Rowena Caronan

Ciara Annatu

ABS-CBN Research and Verification Unit

<p>Vice President Sara Duterte is the fifth public official to be impeached in Philippine history, but her impeachment on May 11, 2026 – for the second time under her term – is a continuing political saga like no other yet.</p><div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/5/11/-2nd-eye-ok-house-impeaches-sara-duterte-again-1702" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>In 257-25-9 vote, House impeaches Sara Duterte</strong></a></div><p>Not only is Duterte the first vice president to be impeached but also the first public official to be impeached twice. Duterte’s impeachment proceedings at the House of Representatives also played out just as a leadership shakeup and the dramatic return of Senator Ronald Dela Rosa unfolded at the Senate.</p><p>And for Dela Rosa, who surfaced after being absent for months, the day has just begun for him. He locked himself in the Senate office after an arrest warrant against him on alleged crimes against humanity was unsealed.</p><p>Now with Duterte’s impeachment trial hanging in the balance, we look back at the history of how past impeachments of public officials developed and ended.</p><p>The outcomes rarely ended in a verdict but were defined by resignations and protests.</p><div> </div><div><strong>WHO CAN BE IMPEACHED</strong></div><p>Under the 1987 Constitution, public officials occupying the highest positions may be removed from office through impeachment.</p><p>Impeachable officials include the president, vice president, members of the Supreme Court, the Ombudsman, and members of the Constitutional Commissions. They can be impeached on the grounds of culpable violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, treason, bribery, graft and corruption, and other high crimes.</p><p>The impeachment is a two-stage process. The House of Representatives has the power to initiate all impeachment proceedings, while the Senate has the sole power to try and decide on all impeachment cases.</p><p>Since 1987, several public officials have faced impeachment complaints, including five Philippine presidents, two Supreme Court chief justices, two Ombudsmen, and three Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioners.</p><p>Of these officials, only five have been impeached by the House, and only one among the five has been convicted by the Senate.</p><div> </div><div><strong>THE ABORTED TRIAL</strong></div><p>Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada was the first and, to date, is the only Philippine president to be impeached by the House and tried by the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court.</p><p>Estrada was elected as president in 1998 and, two years later, was accused of bribery, corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.</p><p>Estrada allegedly received payoffs from operators of the illegal gambling game called jueteng. These payoffs were allegedly funneled through then Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson, his close ally who later became a witness in his impeachment trial and subsequent plunder proceedings in the Sandiganbayan.</p><p>In November 2000, 115 House members endorsed Estrada’s impeachment. Three weeks later, in early December, his impeachment trial began.</p><p>However, Estrada&#x27;s impeachment trial ended shortly, in January 2001, when the Senate voted not to open the controversial “second envelope” believed to contain important evidence against him. This prompted the prosecutors to walk out of the impeachment proceedings and was followed by protests at the EDSA Shrine, known as “EDSA II,” and the military’s eventual withdrawal of support.</p><p>After four days of protests, on January 20, 2001, Estrada stepped down.</p><p>Estrada’s plunder and perjury cases in the Sandiganbayan began in April 2001. In September 2007, the anti-graft court ruled he was guilty of plunder and sentenced him to life in prison.</p><p>A month after Estrada&#x27;s conviction, then-President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo pardoned him.</p><div> </div><div><strong>RESIGNATION AS ESCAPE</strong></div><p>Former Ombudsman Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez and former Comelec Chair Juan Andres Bautista both resigned after being impeached in 2011 and 2017, respectively.</p><p>Gutierrez, whom Arroyo appointed in December 2005, was the first Ombudsman to be impeached.</p><p>In March 2011, the House approved her impeachment for alleged low conviction rate and inaction on graft and malversation cases. These included high-profile corruption cases, such as one linking Arroyo and her husband, one involving retired police generals, another concerning Comelec officials, and the ₱728-million fertilizer fund scam.</p><p>Gutierrez’s impeachment was not tried by the Senate, though. She resigned in April 2011, 10 days before the upper chamber could even begin its proceedings in May. She said she did not want the country to undergo “a long and divisive” trial.</p><p>Gutierrez’s resignation came less than two years before she was set to retire in December 2012.</p><p>Meanwhile, the House approved the impeachment of Bautista in October 2017 for failing to adopt safeguards to prevent the hacking of the Comelec website and declare all his wealth in his financial disclosures.</p><p>Bautista was named poll chief in April 2015. In December 2016, the National Privacy Commission found him liable for the data breach that happened in March of that year.</p><p>Similar to Gutierrez, however, Bautista’s impeachment did not reach the Senate, as he resigned on the same day the lower chamber voted for his impeachment.</p><div> </div><div><strong>THE CONVICTION</strong></div><p>Former Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona’s dismissal as chief magistrate is the only instance in history in which the impeachment process has been completed. He was also the first chief magistrate to be removed by impeachment.</p><p>Corona had been appointed by Arroyo shortly before her presidential term ended in May 2010. He was impeached by the House in December 2011 and in May 2012, he was convicted by the Senate, sitting as a court, which voted 20 to 3.</p><p>President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., who was a senator at the time, was among the three senators who voted to acquit Corona.</p><p>The Senate found Corona guilty of betrayal of public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution for failing to declare all his assets in his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth, or SALN.</p><p>Throughout, Corona insisted on his innocence. He said the impeachment was a political vendetta of the administration because the high court, under his leadership, ruled to distribute to farmers the Hacienda Luisita controlled by the Cojuangco family of then President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.</p><p>In 2014, the Office of the Ombudsman filed a graft case against him and sought the forfeiture of his assets before the Sandiganbayan.</p><p>Corona died in 2016 while his cases were still pending. In 2022, the anti-graft court dismissed his forfeiture case, saying his assets could have been acquired legally.</p><div> </div><div><strong>THE ONGOING DRAMA</strong></div><p>In December 2024, Duterte faced three impeachment bids. She was accused of allegedly misusing public funds when she served as education secretary and plotting to kill Marcos, who was her running mate, the First Lady, and then-House Speaker Martin Romualdez.</p><p>In February 2025, a fourth impeachment bid, which consolidated the previous complaints, was voted on in the plenary and used to impeach her. The charges were then elevated to the Senate for trial.</p><p>But after the Senate convened as an impeachment court on June 10, only two days before they would have their last session, the body agreed to send back the case to the House, questioning its constitutionality. The following day, the House certified its constitutionality.</p><p>On July 25, however, the Supreme Court found it to be unconstitutional, as it violated the ban on having multiple proceedings in a year.</p><p>After the one-year bar rule, in February 2026, Duterte once again faced impeachment complaints. The two complaints contained accusations similar to those filed previously.</p><p>On Monday, Duterte was impeached for the second time with 257 affirmative votes, 25 against, and 9 abstentions.</p><p>This time, the new Senate leadership raises questions about whether or when the trial will proceed.</p>

<p><i>In Philippine history, the outcomes of impeachments rarely ended in a verdict but were defined by resignations and protests.</i></p>

In Philippine history, the outcomes of impeachments rarely ended in a verdict but were defined by resignations and protests.

A look back: Impeachments are a political spectacle

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A look back: Impeachments are a political spectacle

Rowena Caronan,

Ciara Annatu,

ABS-CBN Research and Verification Unit

Published May 12, 2026 07:05 PM PHT

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Impeachment

Vice President Duterte

Duterte Impeachment Trial

Senate Impeachment Trial

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