ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Philippine Senate Votes to Remove Duterte Ally From Chamber’s Presidency

The elevation of Senator Sherwin Gatchalian comes just weeks before the chamber is set to begin the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian presides over a session of the Philippine Senate shortly after his election as the chamber’s president, Jun. 17, 2026.

The Philippine Senate has removed an ally of former president Rodrigo Duterte as the chamber’s president and elected a new leader, just weeks before the ​expected start of the impeachment trial against Vice President Sara Duterte, the ex-leader’s daughter.

During a special session yesterday, all 13 senators present voted to select Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian as ‌Senate president, after Senator Joel Villanueva, a member of the pro-Duterte majority, agreed to switch sides. Members of the opposing pro-Dutertre bloc did not attend.

The vote confirms the removal of Alan Peter Cayetano, the leader of the pro-Duterte camp in the Senate, who was elevated to the top post in a “leadership coup” on May 11. On June 3, a bloc led by Gatchalian hit back, mustering the support to declare the Senate’s leadership posts vacant. They failed to elect a ​replacement due to a lack of votes, but both the House of Representatives and the presidential palace acknowledged Gatchalian as acting president of the 24-seat chamber.

An hour before the start of yesterday’s session, Rappler reported, Cayetano announced that he had given up his claim to the Senate presidency, after Villanueva informed him of his decision to support Gatchalian.

Until then, Cayetano and his bloc had disputed Gatchalian’s acting Senate presidency, describing his maneuver on June 3 as an “an illegal coup d’état” and insisting that Cayetano was the “legitimate and moral” Senate president.

All of this political jostling is related to the bitter and protracted political feud that has raged between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the family of former President Duterte over the past two years.

This political war has now come to center on the Senate, which is set to begin the impeachment........

© The Diplomat