Escudero eyed as presiding officer of Senate impeachment court – Lacson

MANILA, Philippines – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero is being eyed as the presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court, Senator Panfilo Lacson said on Wednesday, June 17.

“As per our (the majority’s) consensus as of this morning, we will elect Senator Chiz Escudero, when we convene again as a Senate impeachment court, to be the presiding officer,” Lacson said in response to reporters’ questions on the sidelines of the special session.

Lacson said that aside from being a lawyer, Escudero also has experience in handling impeachment proceedings. Escudero was the presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court in 2025, when he was Senate president, following the first time the House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte.

The Senate will hold a pre-trial conference on Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial on Thursday, June 18.

During the June 3 session that spurred the leadership shake-up at the Senate that ousted Alan Peter Cayetano as Senate president, the Senate amended the rules of impeachment to allow a senator other than the Senate president to be elected as presiding officer of the impeachment court if there is a “majority vote of the members present.”

Lacson had said in an interview over the weekend that the amended rule can allow the Senate to elect a lawyer to become the presiding officer of the Senate impeachment court. Aside from Escudero, the only other lawyer in the majority is Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan.

When he was Senate president, Escudero was heavily criticized for allegedly dragging his foot on the impeachment trial. The House submitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate on February 5, 2025, but the Senate convened itself into an impeachment court only months later, on June 10, 2025.

On August 6, 2025, the Senate moved to archive the articles of impeachment against Duterte, effectively killing the case. – Rappler.com