25/06/2026
Before the Senate hears a single witness in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, it must answer a threshold question: what kind of court is it?
Is impeachment a court of law, bound by judicial discipline, or a political body governed mainly by its own rules? How many votes are needed to convict? Who controls the gavel? Can a non-lawyer preside over an evidence-heavy trial? And when senator-judges have already shown their leanings, must they step aside?
On ABOGADO, Dean Rodel Taton and Atty. Heyz Meking examine the machinery of the impeachment court: the votes, the quorum, the presiding officer, recusal, conflict, absence, and the rules that may shape everything that follows.
