MANILA, Philippines – On June 17, the Senate convened for a special session to take up pending measures. The special session came after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., on June 15, called on Congress to “urgently consider” the passage of several bills.
During the session, Senator Win Gatchalian was elected Senate president. Senator Joel Villanueva joined the new majority, giving Gatchalian the 13th vote needed to secure the Senate presidency, sealing the leadership change that had been brewing for weeks.
On June 18, lawyers for Vice President Sara Duterte and House prosecutors attended a Senate pre-trial conference ahead of Duterte’s impeachment trial. Everything went well during the first day as the prosecution and defense teams finished marking the evidence for two of Duterte’s four articles of impeachment — for bribery and for grave threats.
Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila University undergraduate students staged a walkout on June 19, led by the university student government Sanggunian ng mga Mag-aaral ng mga Paaralang Loyola ng Ateneo de Manila.
“Today is a day of reckoning for the Ateneo de Manila,” former Sanggunian president Annika Torres said in her opening speech, calling for “a renewal of our institution.” She demanded accountability from the school as she called out the neglect and silence that followed Baterbonia and Adili’s deaths.
