‘Bloodied but unbowed’: Sara Duterte returns to Senate, vows to fight impeachment

Vice President Sara Duterte returned to the Senate on Tuesday for a closed-door meeting with her defense team, marking her first visit to the impeachment court complex since the trial opened.

“In this bloodbath and bludgeoning, I will be bloodied but unbowed,” Duterte told members of the impeachment defense media.

Defense spokesperson Atty. Michael Poa earlier said the vice president’s visit was solely for a strategy meeting with her lawyers inside the defense team’s holding room.

He said the meeting had been scheduled to allow Duterte and her legal team to discuss the next steps in the impeachment trial.

According to Poa, Duterte would leave the Senate immediately after the meeting to attend other engagements in Manila.

“She has engagements din kasi. That’s why she’s here in Manila. And she will have to proceed to her engagements after our meeting,” he said.

The Senate on Monday opened Duterte’s impeachment trial with sharply contrasting narratives. House prosecutors described the case as a constitutional reckoning on public accountability, while the defense argued that it was a politically motivated effort to remove an official who received the support of more than 32 million voters.

The vice president skipped Monday’s opening proceedings, leaving her legal team to represent her before the Senate sitting as an impeachment court.

Under Senate rules, Duterte is not required to personally attend every hearing and may continue to appear through her lawyers.

She is the first vice president to stand trial before the Senate, where she faces allegations that include the misuse of confidential funds, unexplained wealth, bribery, graft and corruption, betrayal of public trust, and culpable violation of the Constitution.

Sara visits Marcoleta

Before meeting with her defense lawyers, Duterte visited detained Senator-Judge Rodante Marcoleta at the Philippine National Police General Hospital in Camp Crame, where he remains under police custody following his arrest on plunder charges.

PNP officials said Duterte arrived at the hospital at around 7:30 a.m. and stayed for about an hour before leaving.

Marcoleta, one of Duterte’s closest political allies and a senator-judge in the impeachment trial, was hospitalized on Monday after complaining of chest pains and elevated blood pressure while undergoing booking procedures following his arrest.

Doctors said his condition was clinically stable, although his blood pressure remained unstable and he would undergo further medical tests.

The Sandiganbayan earlier ordered Marcoleta’s arrest after finding probable cause to charge him with plunder over allegations that he received P75 million in illegal campaign contributions during the 2025 elections. The offense is non-bailable.