Playing the numbers game

Perhaps the devil saw an opportunity to play more tricks on the confused Legislature, as the House of Representatives and the Philippine Senate grappled with their duty and responsibility to process and decide the historic second impeachment trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte.

“Play the numbers game,” the devil cackled above the tumultuous moral storm buffeting the political leadership of our country. “Playing the numbers game” is an idiom definitely crafted by the devil for the vulnerable human conscience — “to use amounts or figures to support an argument, often in a way that confuses or misleads people,” as the Cambridge Dictionary defines.

HOW IT STARTED
In December 2024, four impeachment complaints were formally filed against Sara Duterte, the 15th vice-president of the Philippines, who was serving under President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. The complaints arose from the public outcry against Ms. Duterte, then concurrently Secretary of Education, who was cited in the Commission on Audit (CoA) report for the 2022 national budget, released on July 3, 2023. CoA findings included the alleged misuse of confidential funds and questionable transactions during her tenure, particularly citing Duterte’s office spending P125 million on confidential funds in just 11 days, during the latter part of 2022.

When in October 2023, Duterte’s office requested P500 million in confidential funds plus P150 million for the education department, the House of Representatives announced that it was blocking the funds requested. Perhaps Ms. Duterte’s over-the-top reaction to losing her confidential funds, and her public threat to kill erstwhile-ally turned enemy President Marcos Jr. and family, roused the public outcry. Coalitions of various civic organizations submitted four impeachment complaints to the House of Representatives in December 2024.

On Feb. 5, 2025, the House of Representatives impeached Ms. Duterte, with 215 lawmakers — more than two-thirds of the 306-member body — supporting the complaint. The Senate received the complaint that same day.

Then-Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero tried to postpone Senate action to June 2, after the congressional recess from February to June that year. But the Constitution obliges that the “trial by the Senate shall proceed forthwith,” or as soon as possible. Still, the Senate still took months to debate on when, and if ever, the impeachment trial court should be convened. On June 9, 2025, minority senators Risa Hontiveros and Kiko Pimentel moved to formally start the trial of Ms. Duterte. Sen. Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa insistently proposed to end and dismiss the trial, and Sen. Robinhood Padilla filed a resolution that sought to terminate the impeachment proceedings. Sen. Bong Go then suggested returning the articles of impeachment to the House of Representatives for review, and Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano formally made the motion to remand the complaint, a motion duly approved by 18 senators (five voted “no”; there were no abstentions) out of 23 senators “present.” Ms. Duterte “had the numbers” in the Senate.

Then this: the Supreme Court unanimously nullified the impeachment complaint on July 25, 2025, ruling that it was “unconstitutional.” The Court stated that the “one year-bar rule” was already covered by the first three impeachment cases, rendering the fourth one invalid. No complaints could be filed before the House of Representatives until Feb. 6, 2026.

Dutifully complying, the House Committee on Justice heard the second impeachment complaint against Ms. Duterte, and 257 lawmakers voted on May 11 this year to indict her, exceeding the 215 House members who signed her impeachment complaint in 2025. But even before the articles of impeachment could be sent to the Senate, an already-rumored coup d’état by a 13-member “new majority” was dramatically staged, gunshots and all, at the Senate session on May 11, ousting Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto and installing Mr. Cayetano as the new Senate President.

THE NUMBERS GAME
The “pawn” in the coup strategy was the long-missing Sen. Dela Rosa, who had not appeared at the Senate premises for six months since Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla first disclosed that there was a warrant of arrest against him issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC warrant was unsealed only on May 11. But Mr. Dela Rosa was the needed No. 13 for a majority to vote to remove and replace Sotto with Cayetano.

An election for the president and president pro tempore of the Senate of the Philippines was held on May 11. The 13 “solid” majority were in control of the Senate, with Mr. Cayetano as the new Senate President. Senator Loren Legarda was elected president pro tempore, a position she previously held in the 19^th Congress. Mr. Dela Rosa was given protective custody by the Senate, where he stayed for two nights (in “reserve” for more voting on coming matters).

Following a standoff on May 13 between Senate security personnel and NBI agents seeking to arrest Dela Rosa, the senator left the premises in the early hours of May 14 with the help of his colleague and ally, Mr. Padilla. The majority pro-Duterte senators thus lost their powerful 13 count, since minus Dela Rosa they were down to 12 pax.

On May 23, the minority bloc officially endorsed Senator Sherwin Gatchalian for Senate President. Perhaps the morale of the pro-Duterte majority fell when their member, Senator Jinggoy Estrada, surrendered to authorities at Camp Crame on June 1 after the Sandiganbayan issued a warrant for his arrest on a non-bailable plunder charge arising from the flood control corruption scandal. The Duterte majority was down to 11, equal to the 11 in the minority.

On June 1 and 2, the pro-Duterte majority did not attend the scheduled Senate sessions. The Gatchalian-Sotto minority sat it out at the Senate Hall, waiting. There was no quorum. Then on the following day, June 3, Mr. Escudero suddenly appeared and joined the 11 members of the Senate minority to establish a quorum of 12 senators. The new majority moved to declare all leadership positions vacant, unseating Cayetano and Legarda, and electing Mr. Gatchalian as Senate president pro tempore and acting-Senate President, as a 13-seat quorum is required for the election of a permanent Senate President.

In a Philippine Star report on June 4, acting-Senate President Gatchalian said that a valid quorum existed to depose Cayetano and Legarda, as the new majority counted 12 out of 22 effective senators following the arrest of Estrada and with Senator Dela Rosa beyond the Senate’s reach. The following precedents for a quorum of less than 13 were cited:

• the 1949 Supreme Court ruling Avelino v. Cuenco, where Senator Mariano Jesús Cuenco was elected as acting Senate president over Senate President José Avelino, on a quorum of 12 out of 23 senators (one senator, Tomas Confesor, was in the United States at the time and out of the Senate’s jurisdiction to compel attendance). The Supreme Court upheld Cuenco’s election as valid, after Avelino filed a quo warranto petition before them asking the Court to declare him the rightful Senate president.

• a 2015 Senate precedent, where then-Senate President Franklin Drilon called a quorum with just 12 senators present, as Senators Jinggoy Estrada, Bong Revilla, and Juan Ponce Enrile were in custody following the pork barrel scam, with another four senators out of the country at that time.

A manifesto affirming the validity of a Senate quorum below 13 under physical constraints was signed by an influential group of legal minds and religious leaders, including Archbishop Socrates Villegas, retired Supreme Court Justice Adolfo Azcuna, former University of the Philippines Law Dean Pacifico Agabin, Fr. Ranhilio Callangan Aquino of the San Beda Graduate School of Law, alongside law deans from the University of Asia and the Pacific, Adamson University, Lyceum of the Philippines University, and San Beda University.

The manifesto pointed out that the 1987 Constitution’s definition of a quorum as a “majority of each House” must adapt to practical realities when certain members are factually unavailable to perform their duties. “To insist that he should be counted in determining a majority for purposes of quorum is to accord someone who is evading arrest and the processes of law, and deliberately putting himself beyond the reach of any legal coercion, the power to hold the entire legislature hostage,” read the statement.

Yet the Duterte bloc insists on the quorum of 13 that they say legally installed them in power. Defying objections from senators aligned with the newly constituted leadership of the Senate blue ribbon committee, the bloc led by Mr. Cayetano on Thursday proceeded with a hearing on the public works corruption scandal and heard testimony from 18 alleged former Marines who claimed they had delivered cash to lawmakers and other public figures on behalf of former Rep. Zaldy Co.

Meanwhile, the Gatchalian bloc’s Blue Ribbon Committee hearing is set for today, June 8, led by Senator Erwin Tulfo. The 18 ex-Marines witnesses have also been invited to attend. Let’s see what happens next.

But the tragic saga of corruption and impunity must not go on and on. It cannot just be settled by a soulless numbers game. Truth and justice must prevail, to heal and restore the moral compass of this battered country — waylaid by some conscienceless leaders.

Amelia H. C. Ylagan is a doctor of Business Administration from the University of the Philippines.

ahcylagan@yahoo.com