Senate Opens Pre-Trial for Sara Duterte's Impeachment as Escudero Is Eyed to Preside Over July 6 Trial

# Senate Opens Pre-Trial for Sara Duterte's Impeachment as Escudero Is Eyed to Preside Over July 6 Trial *The pre-trial conference cleared procedural ground for a trial whose centerpiece, prosecutors say, will be the alleged misuse of P612.5 million in confidential funds.* The Senate impeachment court formally opened the pre-trial conference for Vice President Sara Duterte on Thursday, June 18, setting the stage for a trial that the chamber has scheduled to begin July 6. The conference proceeded a day after senators ended a five-week leadership standoff by electing Sherwin Gatchalian as Senate President, removing the procedural uncertainty that had clouded whether and when the trial would advance. Members of Duterte's defense team and the House prosecution panel appeared at the Senate for the conference, which dealt with the stipulation of facts, simplification of issues, marking of evidence, and identification of witnesses and trial dates. "It's a normal process naman so it's really stipulation of facts and simplification of issues," Duterte's legal counsel Michael Poa told reporters, according to GMA News. Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-Ao, a member of the House prosecution panel, was unable to attend. House lead prosecutor and Batangas Second District Rep. Gerville Luistro said earlier that the bulk of the prosecution's witnesses would address the alleged misuse of confidential funds. "It is the confidential fund… because of course we know that confidential fund is very voluminous and each piece of document needs to be identified by oral testimony of witnesses," Luistro said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview cited by GMA News. "'Pag maraming documents, marami din witnesses" — when there are voluminous documents, there are many witnesses, she added. Luistro also cautioned that preparation "is always never enough." Sen. Panfilo Lacson has said the new Senate majority bloc has tentatively agreed to install Sen. Francis "Chiz" Escudero as presiding officer of the impeachment court, according to GMA News. The senator-judges are expected to formally convene the court on July 6. ## The charges The Articles of Impeachment, approved by the House of Representatives in May after a 257-vote impeachment — its second against Duterte — accuse the Vice President of culpable violation of the Constitution, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, bribery, and other high crimes. The specific acts, as listed in the articles, include the alleged systematic misuse and irregular liquidation of P500 million in confidential funds released to the Office of the Vice President and P112.5 million released to the Department of Education during her tenure as Education secretary; amassing unexplained wealth allegedly disproportionate to her lawful income; failure to fully disclose assets in her SALNs for 2022, 2023 and 2024; failure to divest business interests; giving monetary inducements to DepEd officials; and contracting the alleged assassination of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Marcos and former Speaker Martin Romualdez. During the House justice committee deliberations, the Commission on Audit affirmed notices of disallowance on the OVP's disbursement of P73 million in confidential funds in the final 11 days of December 2022 and a separate P375 million. "It means that they did not comply with the joint circular. What is required under the joint circular is documentary evidence of payment," COA Intelligence and Confidential Funds Audit Office OIC Gloria Camora testified, per GMA News. The Philippine Statistics Authority told the panel that fictitious names appeared in payment documents, and the National Bureau of Investigation testified that signatures "appear to have been authored by only a few number of persons." Duterte has consistently maintained that the names among the supposed recipients were aliases used in intelligence operations and that no funds were misused. ## Context The House impeached Duterte on May 11; the Senate first convened as an impeachment court on May 18. Duterte's camp filed its answer on June 1, asking the court to dismiss the case. The path to trial was complicated by a leadership contest that saw Gatchalian installed as Acting Senate President on June 3 in a session that the Cayetano bloc later asked the Supreme Court to void. That contest closed on June 17 when Gatchalian was formally elected Senate President after two Cayetano allies crossed over and Cayetano conceded. A two-thirds Senate vote — at least 16 of 24 senators — is required to convict and remove the Vice President from office. ## Sources - Sundy Locus, "Pre-trial conference for Sara Duterte impeachment trial starts," GMA News Online, June 18, 2026 — https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/991861/pre-trial-conference-sara-duterte-impeachment/story/ - Llanesca T. Panti, "Luistro: Most witnesses will be on alleged misuse of confidential funds of Sara Duterte," GMA News Online, June 16, 2026 — https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/topstories/nation/991606/luistro-most-witnesses-will-be-on-alleged-misuse-of-confidential-funds-of-sara-duterte/story/ - "Sara Duterte impeachment pre-trial set for June 18," Rappler — https://www.rappler.com/philippines/gatchalian-senate-sets-impeachment-pre-trial-sara-duterte-june-18-2026/ - "Sara Duterte's impeachment trial to begin on July 6," Rappler — https://www.rappler.com/philippines/vice-president-sara-duterte-trial-schedule-2026/ - "Second impeachment of Sara Duterte," Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_impeachment_of_Sara_Duterte