OpenPinas: Weekly Review

The House of Representatives voted 257–25–9 on May 11 to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte for a second time, making her the first Philippine official impeached twice. The tally far exceeded the one-third constitutional threshold of 106 votes and surpassed the 215 votes from her first impeachment in 2025 (later blocked by the Supreme Court on procedural grounds). Articles allege misuse of confidential funds, bribery, unexplained wealth including private transactions exceeding $110 million flagged by anti-money laundering agencies, and threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the First Lady, and former Speaker Martin Romualdez. Duterte was not in Manila when the vote occurred. The House transmitted the articles to the Senate, which must convict with 16 of 24 senators to remove her and permanently bar her from public office—including a 2028 presidential run where she had led early polls.

Hours before the House impeachment vote, 13 senators installed Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, ousting Tito Sotto (13–9–2). Senator Imee Marcos moved the leadership change; backers included Francis Escudero, Bong Go, Ronald dela Rosa, Robin Padilla, and Camille Villar. Cayetano—a 2016 Duterte running mate—will preside over Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial as Senate president. Loren Legarda was elected president pro tempore. Cayetano denied the coup was tied to impeachment, citing Middle East conflict, AI, and hunger instead, but the timing positioned a Duterte-aligned bloc to control the upper chamber’s agenda just as articles arrived from the House.

National Bureau of Investigation agents attempted to serve an International Criminal Court arrest warrant on Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa at the Senate on May 13, triggering a chaotic standoff. Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Mao Aplasca fired warning shots; more than 100 supporters gathered outside overnight. The ICC warrant cites alleged crimes against humanity linked to 32 killings during the 2016–2018 drug war when dela Rosa led the Philippine National Police. Several senators claimed the warrant was invalid, but Rappler and the ICC affirmed its validity; the Supreme Court had not granted dela Rosa immediate relief on his petition to block arrest. President Marcos said there were no executive orders to arrest dela Rosa and denied the government “swarmed” the Senate.

Senate President Cayetano confirmed on May 14 that dela Rosa had left the Senate premises, ending his protective stay inside the building. Senator Robin Padilla was reported to have accompanied him out; the NBI later tagged Padilla and Aplasca as persons of interest, and Representative Leila de Lima said Padilla could face obstruction charges. On May 14 the Ombudsman placed Aplasca under six-month preventive suspension for discharging firearms during the May 13 incident, with investigators pledging to subpoena CCTV footage. Cayetano challenged the Ombudsman to suspend NBI Director Melvin Matibag instead. The Makabayan bloc called dela Rosa’s exit a “monumental blunder” for the administration.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed Luzon and the Visayas under red alert on May 13–15 as available capacity fell short of peak demand—Luzon faced a 373 MW deficit (13,508 MW available vs. 13,881 MW demand) and the Visayas a 220 MW shortfall. NGCP implemented manual load dropping (rotating brownouts) across Metro Manila, Batangas, Pampanga, Quezon, Isabela, Cebu, and other areas. At least 16 plants were forced offline and 14 derated, with roughly 4,160 MW unavailable; transmission failures on the Tayabas–Ilijan and Dasmariñas–Ilijan 500-kV lines compounded the crisis. The grid returned to normal operations on May 16. Energy analysts warned the outages exposed over-reliance on a few large plants and critical corridors.

Mayon Volcano remained at Alert Level 3 with effusive eruption exceeding 130 consecutive days by mid-May. On May 13 a lava-collapse pyroclastic density current at 11:22 a.m. produced a plume rising 4,000 meters, drifting southwest with ashfall in Camalig, Legazpi, and Sto. Domingo. PHIVOLCS recorded continued rockfalls, lava flows up to 3.8 km along the Basud Gully, and minor strombolian activity on May 14. The Office of Civil Defense reported up to 70,150 families affected; the Office of the Vice President conducted relief distributions of food packs and hygiene kits. PHIVOLCS Director Teresito Bacolcol said unrest could persist for weeks, comparing the pattern to Mayon’s 2023 eruption that lasted about six months at Alert Level 3.

The week delivered a one-two punch and a partial reprieve: Sara Duterte was impeached again with 257 House votes, while Alan Cayetano’s Senate presidency gives Duterte allies control of the impeachment court. Senator Bato dela Rosa—closely tied to Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war—evaded ICC arrest after a Senate standoff, then left the building on May 14.

The administration secured its House impeachment win but faced a chaotic Senate week: Marcos denied ordering dela Rosa’s arrest while the NBI attempted service of an ICC warrant, and power-grid failures underscored economic vulnerability after Q1’s 2.8% GDP print. Senator Imee Marcos backed Cayetano’s leadership change, splitting Marcos-family Senate alignment.