The Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, resumed the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday, July 21, 2026. Voltaire F. Domingo, Senate Social Media Unit MANILA — Sen. Pia Cayetano on Wednesday talked to retired Supreme Court justices about the pressure that she said she and other members of the Senate minority are under.
Cayetano pointed out that two senators — Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta, who are facing graft cases at the Sandiganbayan — are in jail while another, Sen. Ronald Dela Rosa, is in hiding.
Sen. Loren Legarda is on medical leave but is also facing an Office of the Ombudsman investigation.
“I will tell you all now. Am I pressured? I am,” she said after mentioning speculations about her and brother Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano’s trip to Singapore last week.
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She said she was there to support Filipino athletes but that the National Bureau of Investigation issued statements that “make it appear that I’m a common fugitive.”
NBI Director Melvin Matibag told reporters on September 11 that he had “information” that the two would return to the Philippines by Saturday or Sunday and that he saw nothing wrong with the trip.
The immigration bureau, which confirmed the trip after it sparked speculations on social media also said there was no reason to keep the Cayetanos from leaving the country.
"I fear for my liberty," she said.
"I fear for my right to speak," she also said after referring to but not naming a colleague who she said has been attacking them.
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She then said in Filipino that keeping the 16-vote threshold for a conviction in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte would ensure "we can all speak freely here."
FORMER JUSTICES RESPOND
Former Chief Justice Reynato Puno, who was speaking as a "friend of the court" on the question of a voting threshold, answered Cayetano's main question on whether the Supreme Court can intervene in case senator-judges are "unjustifiably denied their right to sit in court" and if the respondent is denied a fair trial.
"Those two examples are not political questions. They are justiciable questions that involve violations of specific rights," he said without commenting on developments at the Senate.
Before turning to retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna, Cayetano said a member of her brother's staff who had helped with the 2019 Southeast Asian Games had already been issued a subpoena — the NBI is investigating alleged irregularities in the hosting — and is, she said, already facing a case.
"Hindi pa ho ba pressure 'yun (Doesn't that count as pressure), Justice Azcuna?"
Azcuna, who has taken the position that the 16-vote threshold should remain regardless of how many senators are actually present, said he cannot comment on the particular case.
"I can only reiterate the premise of my submission that the reason for the threshold is to protect the Senate from artificial and partisan moves to prevent justice from being done."