Pro-Duterte senators' coup: Sotto ousted, Cayetano takes post
MANILA, Philippines (8th update: May 12, 8:55 a.m.) — Senate President Tito Sotto was ousted Monday, May 11, in a surprise leadership coup by senators aligned with detained former President Rodrigo Duterte, reshaping the upper chamber just as the House moved closer to a critical vote on the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte.
Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano was elected to replace Sotto after 13 senators backed a leadership change.
Sen. Imee Marcos nominated Cayetano for the post. Cayetano then manifested on the floor that 13 senators supported the move, including Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who had been absent from Senate sessions since November 2025.
Nine senators voted for Sotto, while two—Sens. JV Ejercito and Miguel Zubiri—chose to abstain.
Sen. Camille Villar administered Cayetano's oath, while his sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano, and wife, Taguig Mayor Lani Cayetano, stood next to him.
The leadership shakeup came hours after Sen. Bong Go publicly denied rumors that there is a plan to block the convening of an impeachment court against Duterte.
Impeachment backdrop
The leadership change unfolded as the House of Representatives prepared to vote on whether to transmit the Articles of Impeachment against Sara to the Senate for trial. The lower chamber's lawmakers decided overwhelmingly, 257-25, to impeach Duterte for the second time in two years.
With Cayetano now leading the upper chamber, he is set to preside over a Senate that had previously declined to proceed with Sara’s impeachment trial.
In his first remarks as new Senate leader, Cayetano insisted that the change in leadership was not due to the impeachment or politics. He pointed to layered crises due to the Middle East conflict, threats of AI and hunger.
"Hindi ko kayo sinisisi kung ang sinasabi n'yo sa news na ang pagpalit sa leadership ay tungkol sa impeachment, hindi po. The impeachment is enshrined in the Constitution," Cayetano said. (I'm not blaming you for saying in the news that the change of leadership is because of impeachment, it's not.)
He added, while drawing passages from the Bible: "The Bible says that the truth shall set us free. We want to be free from poverty. We want to be free from corruption. We want to be free from a government that is busy fighting its own people, of people fighting each other."
He warned, however, against treating impeachment as a shortcut to remove political rivals. Duterte herself, while accused of massive misuse of funds and threatening to have President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. killed, declared her intention to run for presidency in 2028.
“Hindi natin pwedeng sabihin she or he will make a bad president or wala na tayong maaasahan diyan sa presidente, wala na tayong maaasahan sa vice president, impeach na lang natin. Hindi po,” Cayetano said. (We cannot simply say someone would make a bad president or that we no longer expect anything from a president or vice president and just impeach them. That’s not how it works.)
“The Senate is also on trial,” he added.
This marks the second time Cayetano has headed a chamber of Congress. He previously served as House speaker from 2019 to 2020 under then-president Rodrigo.
His daughter, Sara Duterte, is facing impeachment charges of misusing confidential funds, bribery, unexplained wealth, and death threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Dela Rosa returns
The dramatic turnover also coincided with Dela Rosa’s return to the Senate after months out of public view.
During plenary, the visibly emotional senator angrily claimed that the National Bureau of Investigation had attempted to prevent him from entering the Senate complex. It was later learned that agents were attempting to serve him a warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity.
Dela Rosa had largely disappeared from Senate sessions after Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla, then justice secretary, announced the presence of the warrant in November last year. — with reports from Cristina Chi
--
An earlier version of this report stated that there were 11 votes in favor of Sen. Sotto. This has been corrected to nine.
- Latest
- Trending
