MANILA, June 17 (Reuters) – The Philippine Senate removed an ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte as Senate president on Wednesday and elected a new leader just weeks before the expected start of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian was voted Senate president in the special sitting, formalising the removal of Alan Peter Cayetano after a June 3 session when a bloc led by Gatchalian declared leadership posts vacant but failed to elect a replacement due to a lack of votes.
Cayetano, who was only elected Senate president last month, and his allies in the upper chamber were absent from Wednesday’s session, which was called by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr to ensure the passage of urgent bills, including an anti-political-dynasty measure.
All 13 senators present during the session backed Gatchalian, who belongs to a different political party than Marcos. There are 24 senators in total.
The leadership dispute began last month when Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court, reappeared after months out of public view to cast a decisive vote to install Cayetano, a former running mate of Rodrigo Duterte, as president of the chamber just as it was about to receive an impeachment complaint against the vice president.
Dela Rosa then slipped away early on May 14, hours after chaos and gunfire erupted in the Senate. His whereabouts are unknown.
Rodrigo Duterte, Sara’s father, is in ICC detention in The Hague and will face trial charged with crimes against humanity. Dela Rosa is wanted on similar charges over his role as the top enforcer of Duterte’s bloody “war on drugs”.
Both Duterte and dela Rosa deny the ICC charges.
The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, will formally start hearing the case of Sara Duterte on July 6. If convicted, she faces a ban from holding public office that could derail her ambitions to become president in 2028.
The impeachment complaint accuses Duterte of misusing public funds, accumulating unexplained wealth, and threatening the lives of Marcos, the first lady, and a former House Speaker.
Duterte has denied wrongdoing and has called the impeachment effort politically motivated.
(Reporting by Karen Lema; Editing by John Mair)
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