ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider VP Sara leaves impeachment trial preparations to legal team

VP Sara leaves impeachment trial preparations to legal team

Duterte says she will follow her lawyers' strategy as Senate impeachment trial approaches

Published Jun 10, 2026 05:21 pm

At A Glance

  • VP Sara Duterte said she has left the preparations for the Senate impeachment trial entirely to her lawyers.
  • The Vice President wants a small legal team to streamline communication and decision-making.
  • Duterte said she will follow whatever defense strategy her lawyers deem most effective.
Vice President Sara Duterte said her legal team is handling all preparations for her upcoming Senate impeachment trial, emphasizing that she will follow their advice and legal strategy. (Manila Bulletin/file)
Vice President Sara Duterte said her legal team is handling all preparations for her upcoming Senate impeachment trial, emphasizing that she will follow their advice and legal strategy. (Manila Bulletin/file)
Vice President Sara Duterte said on Wednesday, June 10, that she has entrusted all preparations for her upcoming Senate impeachment trial to her legal team, stressing that she will follow the advice and strategy crafted by her lawyers.
In an interview in General Santos City, Duterte said she has deliberately stepped back from handling the details of her defense, despite being a lawyer herself.
“Ang preparation at paghahanda ng impeachment trial ay iniwan ko na sa mga abogado at sinabihan ko na rin sila na susunod na lang ako sa mga desisyon ng mga abogado. (I have left the preparation and arrangements for the impeachment trial to the lawyers, and I have also told them that I will simply follow the decisions of the lawyers),” she said.
The Vice President explained that while she has her own ideas and legal opinions on how the case could be handled, she recognizes that her current role is that of a client rather than a member of the defense team.
Duterte said she instructed her lawyers to keep the legal team small to ensure efficient communication and decision-making as they prepare for the proceedings.
“Kasi ako bilang abogado meron din akong mga iniisip, meron din akong mga gustong gawin (As a lawyer, I also have my own thoughts and things I would like to do),” Duterte said.
“Pero sa aking estado na ngayon ako ay client klinaro ko ‘yung sa mga abogado na gawin nating maliit lang ‘yung team para madaling makapag-usap (But in my current position as a client, I made it clear to my lawyers that we should keep the team small to facilitate communication),” she added.
She added that she would defer to whatever legal strategy her lawyers consider most effective and appropriate for her defense.
“Kung ano sa tingin nila pinakatama at pinakamabisa at pinakamagaling na paraan ng kanilang defense ay susunod lang ako bilang kliyente nila (Whatever they believe to be the most correct, effective, and best way to mount their defense, I will simply follow as their client),” Duterte said.
Duterte did not provide further details about her legal team's defense strategy or timeline for trial preparations.
The Senate impeachment court has set the pre-trial conference for Duterte’s case on June 18, signaling the formal move toward trial proceedings.
On June 1, Duterte, through her legal counsel, formally submitted her Answer before the Senate sitting as an Impeachment Court, contesting the constitutionality and validity of the case filed against her.
READ: 
https://mb.com.ph/2026/06/01/vp-sara-files-impeachment-answer-before-senate-seeks-dismissal-of-case
Duterte’s defense team raised “significant constitutional, procedural, and substantive issues” regarding both the Articles of Impeachment and the proceedings conducted by the House of Representatives and its Committee on Justice.
The defense stressed that these issues should be resolved within the Senate impeachment court rather than debated in public.
“We trust that the Senate will discharge its constitutional duty with fairness, independence, and fidelity to the rule of law,” Duterte’s defense team said.
Duterte is seeking dismissal of her impeachment case. In an executive summary attached to the filing, her camp argued that the Articles of Impeachment were “constitutionally infirm, procedurally defective, and substantively deficient.”
READ: 
https://mb.com.ph/2026/06/03/explainer-why-vp-sara-wants-senate-to-junk-her-impeachment-case

Related Tags

Sara Duterte impeachment trial VP Sara Duterte Senate impeachment trial Sara Duterte lawyers Philippines politics
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ static_articles_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.