Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has been ousted as Senate president, replaced by former Minority Floor Leader Alan Peter Cayetano. 13 senators — including a newly surfaced Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa — voted to remove Sotto from his position on Monday, May 11, just moments before the House of Representatives also decided to impeach Vice President Sara Duterte.
The Senate saw a previous shake-up take place in September 2025, when Sotto replaced Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero as Senate president. Inquirer reports that, according to a source close to the Senate, Escudero was ousted due to his involvement in the flood control corruption scandal and his handling of Duterte’s previous impeachment case.
The recent Senate coup is similarly suspected of being related to Duterte’s impeachment, especially as the senators who voted for Sotto’s removal are known allies of the Duterte camp. Cayetano, however, denies that the coup and impeachment are related.
News of the ouster, in conjunction with dela Rosa’s return to the Senate and the House’s vote to impeach Duterte, has sent the country into outrage. As we wait to see how the leadership change affects national politics, we look at who’s won this particular power struggle, and who’s lost.
Alan Peter Cayetano: Winner
Cayetano is a winner here, for obvious reasons, and it’s all thanks to his friends in the upper chamber: his sister Sen. Pia Cayetano, sibling-senators Camille and Mark Villar, Jinggoy Estrada, Loren Legarda, and Duterte allies dela Rosa, Escudero, Bong Go, Rodante Marcoleta, Imee Marcos, Robin Padilla, and Joel Villanueva. Sotto also voted for Cayetano, as it is customary for opponents to vote for each other.
He likewise voted for Sotto to maintain his position, joining senators Bam Aquino, Sherwin Gatchalian, Risa Hontiveros, Ping Lacson, Lito Lapid, Kiko Pangilinan, Erwin Tulfo, and Raffy Tulfo. Senators JV Ejercito and Migz Zubiri abstained.
Tito Sotto: Loser
Sotto’s loss spells bad things for those who’d like to oust Duterte. While Sotto isn’t allied to either Marcos or Duterte, he promised in January that he would act on any impeachment articles “forthwith.” In April, he also said he was brushing up on rules and procedures, showing a willingness to pursue the impeachment process as laws dictate. Duterte’s fate now rests on Cayetano, but Sotto, being a senator, will still be part of the impeachment court if the Senate carries on with a trial.
Loren Legarda: Winner
In February, it was rumored that Legarda would unseat Sotto from the Senate leadership. But even as that turned out to be false, Legarda bagged the next best seat in the session hall: that of the Senate president pro tempore. The senator previously held the position from July 2022 to May 2024, when Zubiri served as Senate president. This time around, she replaces Lacson.
Legarda has a reputation for being a “political butterfly,” a colloquial term for a public official who constantly changes alliances. She has rejected the label in the past, but this shake-up proves she can be wishy-washy. Before the ouster, she was already part of the majority bloc. But, like Sen. Pia and the Villars, she voted in favor of Cayetano. Maybe she’s been influenced by her self-proclaimed “DDS” son, Batangas First District Rep. Leandro Leviste? Or maybe she’s just doing what she must to stay afloat.
Bato dela Rosa: Loser and Winner… But Mostly Loser
For the first time in six months, dela Rosa finally showed up at the Senate session hall, and his comeback, disgraceful as it was, is one for the history books. The press asked why he decided to return to the Senate, which triggered an outburst. Reports later on showed video footage of dela Rosa running through Senate corridors and stumbling up the stairs, followed by his staff and pursued by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
According to former Senator Antonio Trillanes III, who was also outside the Senate building at the time, the NBI had an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with Rodrigo Duterte’s ongoing drug war case. Later on Monday evening, the ICC unsealed its arrest warrant against dela Rosa, revealing that it had been issued as secret on November 6, 2025. Dela Rosa’s absences from the Senate started five days later, on November 11.
Sara Duterte: Winner
The success of the coup is a success for Duterte, whether her allies in the Senate admit it or not. In 2025, 215 out of 316 had voted to impeach her, setting off proceedings to determine whether she’d be removed from office. But even as an overwhelming majority voted against her, the Senate and Supreme Court would turn the case around by deciding that the impeachment articles were unconstitutional. And with her allies back in the majority, some fear that the new impeachment case against her would once again be dismissed in the Senate, even though 257 congressmen just voted to unseat her.
Bongbong Marcos: Loser
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. hasn’t been in the Senate for years, but this was his battle, too. With the majority of the upper chamber allied to his biggest political nemesis, who also happens to be his vice president, Marcos has just lost a crucial part of the legislature. As a president, he does not have the power to stop or initiate a coup in the Senate, but if he wants to win the feud against Duterte, he will have to do a lot of politicking to gather more allies.
