Virma Simonette Rivera
Reporting from Manila

Image source, EPA

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has "far more important work to attend to" than to monitor the trial, the presidential office says.

"He will not simply sit around and watch the impeachment trial,” the president's press officer Claire Castro told reporters on Monday. She added that Marcos would be duly updated on developments in the trial.

Marcos had said over the weekend that if he were Duterte, he would attend the trial so that he can personally answer to the charges levelled against him.

Duterte is not expected in court today.

Marcos will not interfere on any proposals to amend the two-thirds majority rule currently required to convict the vice-president, Castro adds. Questions have emerged about whether this threshold should change as several senators are absent from today's proceedings.

"The executive branch will not interfere with whatever resolution is reached regarding that issue. It is up to the Senate to decide what to implement,” she said.

Vice-President Sara Duterte is the "people's choice" and attempts to remove her via impeachment are politically-motivated, her lawyer has told the Senate.

Duterte got 32 million votes in the 2022 election, more than President Bongbong Marcos or any of the senators and congressmen involved in the impeachment proceedings, says lawyer Sheila Sison.

"It is clear that the objective is to oust her," Sison says.

If found guilty of corruption or of threatening to have Marcos assassinated, the vice president will be removed from office and disqualified from running for president in 2028.

Congresswoman Gerville Luistro delivers the opening argument for the prosecution.

She says the heart of the matter is "does accountability still matter in our country?"

"If a small village treasurer can't explain missing funds, he is investigated. If a school principal squanders public funds, even just 5,000 pesos, she is punished. If ordinary people are held to account, why not the most powerful government official?"

One of the charges laid against Duterte is corruption, which stems from her alleged misuse of millions of pesos during her term as education minister.

The charges centre on expense claims Duterte made, which she has refused to explain, citing the need for confidentiality. Prosecutors have raised suspicions over the people who allegedly issued these receipts, as their names appear to be the same as a popular potato crisp brand and chain of cafes.

Image source, AFP

Senator Francis Escudero, who has just been elected as presiding officer of the trial, says 16 of 24 senators, or two-thirds of the Senate, is required to convict the vice-president.

Escudero adds that in weighing evidence, senators must bear in mind that the burden of proof rests on the prosecution.

It is unclear how the deeply divided Senate will vote by the end of the trial.

Two senators, both Duterte allies, were arrested recently for plunder. Another senator, also a Duterte ally, is in hiding and is wanted by the International Criminal Court over the war on drugs waged by Sara Duterte's father, former President Rodrigo Duterte.

After spending nearly two hours debating over who should preside over the trial, the 21 senators present in the chamber have elected Senator Francis Escudero as the presiding officer.

The trial proceedings have started to pick up in pace, with prosecution and defence panel members now introducing themselves to the court.

As lawmakers debate in the Senate's main meeting hall for Sara Duterte's impeachment trial, demonstrators are marching outside. Here are some of the latest photos from the scene:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, Getty Images

The country's 24 senators, who are elected on the national level, are serving as the judges in the trial.

A two-thirds majority is required to convict the vice-president.

Members of the House of Representatives are serving as prosecutors.

The Senate has approved a maximum of 92 days for the trial's duration.

While the proceedings have technically kicked off, the opening arguments have yet to begin as senators are still debating a constitutional question - who should preside over the impeachment trial.

It's been almost an hour since Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian opened today's hearing.

Protesters have had a "minor altercation" with the police near the Manila Film Center, a short walk from the Senate building, according to a video posted on X by a reporter from broadcaster ABS-CBN.

According to the post, the demonstrators marched up to gate of the Senate building. But a district police chief said the brief clash was due to a "misunderstanding", ABS-CBN reported.

Virma Simonette Rivera
Reporting from Manila

As the trial unfolds inside the Senate building in the capital, Filipinos across the nation are also keeping a close eye on the proceedings.

Livestreams of the trial, hosted by major media networks and the Senate's official YouTube channel, have each attracted tens of thousands of viewers.

At least one organisation monitoring the impeachment trial, Bantay Senado, is holding a watch party in Manila. The House of Representatives' prosecution has also called on law schools, communities, and civil society groups to organise their own watch parties.

A ride-hailing driver told me earlier today that he would stop working to tune in to today's trial.

“I need to know what this is all about. Who is telling the truth?" he said.

Senators are now debating who should preside over the impeachment trial after a question raised by a Duterte ally, Alan Peter Cayetano, from the minority bloc.

Majority senators say the question should be settled by the Senate in a regular session and not while they are convened as an impeachment court.

As Duterte's impeachment trial takes place in the Senate's main meeting hall, reporters have crowded into a separate room to cover the case. Here's a look from our reporter on the ground Virma Simonette Rivera:

Image source, Virma Simonette Rivera/BBC

Image source, Virma Simonette Rivera/BBC

Image source, Virma Simonette Rivera/BBC

Duterte is not expected in court as she is not required to attend today's session.

Today is the first day of a trial that has been granted a maximum duration of 92 days, though it is unclear if it will last that long.

Twenty-one of 24 incumbent senators are present at today's opening session.

Senate leader Sherwin Gatchalian, who will preside over the trial, delivers an opening message calling on his colleagues to deliver "impartial justice" in the case.

Gatchalian said the trial will be conducted with "integrity, order and respect for due process".

He said he would make sure that ordinary Filipinos would understand the proceedings.

"The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Zimmerman Duterte is hereby called to order," says Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian, the presiding officer of the trial.

The proceedings begin with a prayer by Senator Bam Aquino.

Prosecutors from the House of Representatives and the vice-president's lawyers have taken their spots in the Senate hall and the trial is about to begin.

We are waiting for the senators who will be acting as judges to enter the hall.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest.

Tiger of the North and Eagle of the South - an alliance no morepublished at 06:44 BST

06:44 BST

Joel Guinto
Senior Journalist

Image source, Getty Images

Bongbong Marcos and Sara Duterte were unstoppable during the 2022 elections. Under a system dominated by personality politics, the so-called "Tiger of the North" and "Eagle of the South" were seen as a dream team.

Bongbong, the son of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, commanded votes from the country's north. He recast his father's rule, which was marred by allegations of widespread corruption and human rights abuse, as the country's golden age.

Sara, the daughter of former President Rodrigo Duterte, hails from the south and promised to continue her father's tough stance on crime while redistributing power long held by the Manila elite.

But in the end, there was not enough power to share between them, and the alliance crumbled soon after they assumed power.

Since then Sara has been laying the groundwork for her campaign for the 2028 presidency, while Marcos has been trying to line up a friendly successor who will not go after him when he leaves office.

Today's trial shifts this long-running power struggle to a new battleground, one that will play out on livestreams for the entire nation to watch almost everyday.

Ahead of the 2028 election, this trial will test how much support Marcos and Duterte can muster both from the Senate and from the public.

Here are key events that led to today's impeachment trial:

• May 2022 - Marcos and Duterte win the Philippine elections by a landslide after consolidating their political bases. But cracks soon appear as Marcos' allies in the House of Representatives investigate the vice-president for alleged fund misuse, which she has denied
• Early 2024 - Further signs of a feud emerge when members of the Duterte family criticise Marcos, calling him a junkie and a weak leader
• November 2024 - In a late-night livestream, Duterte says she told someone that "if I get killed, go kill BBM [President Marcos]". Marcos supporters file an impeachment complaint based on this livestream and the alleged fund misuse

• July 2025 - Duterte wins an appeal to stop the impeachment process. But months later Marcos supporters re-file the case, leading to a new trial
• February 2026 - Sara Duterte announces her plan to run for president, raising the stakes as Marcos is only allowed a single six-year-term
• May 2026 - An alleged shooting transpires at the Senate. This happens after prominent senator and Duterte ally, Bato dela Rosa, helps to elect another ally Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, who would preside over the impeachment
• June 2026 - The power balance in the Senate shifts once again as Cayetano is removed as Senate president
• July 2026 - Authorities file a plunder case against yet another Duterte ally in the Senate, Rodante Marcoleta. Marcoleta's supporters from an influential religious group stage three days of protests on Manila's main highway in response

Image source, EPA

In the last few weeks, thousands of members of a religious group have been taking to the streets to protest the impending arrest of Rodante Marcoleta, grinding traffic to a standstill in the capital city.

Marcoleta, a senator and key Duterte ally, has been accused of violating gift-giving laws. He was arrested on Monday hours before Duterte's impeachment trial.

The Iglesia ni Cristo (INC), a religious movement founded in 1913, has close to three million members, representing 2.6% of the population, according to the government's 2020 census.

Its members vote as a bloc and they had backed Marcos and Sara Duterte when they were still allies. But as the alliance soured, the INC has thrown their support behind Duterte.

At the time, the church's spokesman Edwil Zabala had slammed the case against Rodante Marcoleta as "selective justice".

His arrest, which took place hours ahead of the trial, threatens to reduce support for Duterte in Monday's trial.

Image source, EPA

The Philippines has arrested a senator and key ally of Vice President Sara Duterte just hours before the Senate begins a trial to decide if Duterte should be impeached.

Rodante Marcoleta is facing charges over his alleged failure to declare 75m pesos ($1.2m) in campaign donations from three private donors in January 2025.

The 72-year-old's arrest threatens to reduce support for Duterte in the 24-member Senate, which will act as a court in her impeachment trial.

The trial is set to begin at 14:00 local time (07:00 BST).