The Tamesis
May 18, 2026
Manila – Sen. Erwin Tulfo assured the public on Sunday that the Senate minority group is ready to hold Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Monday at 3 p.m., but remains uncertain whether the Senate can remove her and permanently bar her from holding public office.
“Yes, as far as I know, all of us are ready. If a few of us are not ready, it will be embarrassing because the Filipino people are waiting for this,” he said in an interview with dzBB radio.
“There is no reason to delay… We must convene an impeachment court. We have a responsibility to the public and everyone is waiting,” Tulfo added.
READ: Cayetano makes it official: Senate to convene impeachment court on May 18
“She will have an opportunity to defend herself in the appropriate forum. This is the appropriate forum as a court,” said the senator, who will sit on the impeachment trial for the first time as one of the Senate judges.
“She can say ‘This is a fabricated accusation brought against me by Congress or some quarter.'” She can explain herself. The whole country, whether it’s DDS or the opposition, they want to hear this,” he added.
READ: Duterte impeachment: Church leaders urge Senate not to delay proceedings
Tulfo said minority senators would challenge any attempt to block an impeachment court, but it was still uncertain whether the opposition bloc could muster the votes needed.
The Senate is expected to convene the impeachment court days after a Senate reshuffle that led to the May 11 ouster of former Senate President Vicente Sotto III.
“If anyone tries to stop it, we will challenge it… it has to be pushed through, even if it’s 10 o’clock at night or 12 o’clock at midnight, we’ll wait for it to start so that the Senate can convene. I’m willing to do that,” he said.
But Tulfo and his brother, Senator Rafi Tulfo, have only seven votes in the Senate, out of nine votes in total: Senators Sotto, Paul Benigno Aquino IV, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Panfilo Lacson, Manuel Lapid and Francis Pangilinan.
Supporters of Sotto’s removal include Senators Alan Peter Cayetano, Ronald dela Rosa, Imee Marcos, Christopher Go, Robinade Padilla, Rodante Marcoleta, Kingoy Estrada, Joel Villanueva , Frances Escudero, Alan Peter Cayetano’s sister Pia Cayetano, Marco Villar, his sister Camille Villar and Loren Legarda, whose plans for Senate presidency were put on hold by Alan Peter’s election. Cayetano.
Two senators, Joseph Victor Ejercito and Juan Miguel Zubiri, abstained.
After Soto stepped down, de la Rosa disappeared again.
Estrada, Villanueva and Escudero are among the key sitting senators involved in the flood control project scandal uncovered by Lacson’s Blue Ribbon Commission. Former Sen. Ramon Revilla Jr. is currently in prison on related corruption charges.
When Sotto was ousted as Senate president, Lacson was removed as blue ribbon committee chair.
Meanwhile, Alan Peter Cayetano has formally notified upper house members that the Senate will convene an impeachment court meeting on Monday at 3 p.m.
Cayetano said in a letter sent to the offices of 23 senators: “You are therefore requested to be present in the chamber on the above-mentioned date and time. In order to comply with the seriousness of the proceedings and in accordance with the Rules of Procedure for the Senate Impeachment Trial, all Senate judges are required to wear robes when the impeachment court is in session.”
He added: “Your presence and cooperation are vital to the proper and orderly conduct of these proceedings.”
Cayetano earlier assured the public that the Senate was ready to fulfill its constitutional duties and would not postpone Duterte’s impeachment trial. Query
