Who is Vic Rodriguez, petitioner vs. Sara Duterte impeachment vote threshold?

A former trusted ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is leading the charge against the Senate impeachment court's move that changed the 16-vote threshold needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte in her impeachment trial.

Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez has asked the Supreme Court to declare null and void the September 23 ruling of the Senate impeachment court in the trial of Duterte.

Rodriguez also asked for a temporary restraining order on the ruling, which lowered the base of the two-thirds vote needed to convict from all the members of the Senate to all the members who can legally and factually participate in the proceedings.

The former Palace official said the Constitution set the voting threshold at two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, which should be 16 if all 24 senators are counted.

Who is Vic Rodriguez?

Rodriguez served as Marcos' campaign spokesperson and chief of staff during the 2022 elections. Following Marcos' win, he became one of the earliest appointees to the Cabinet as Executive Secretary.

“Who can say no to President-elect Bongbong Marcos? It is an honor working with him, whom I have known for a very long time, and I believe he will serve the country efficiently and with unquestioned devotion. It is very flattering to work alongside the best person I’ve known,” he said.

However, in September 2022 or after just three months in office, Rodriguez announced that he stepped down as Executive Secretary. Back then, he said that he wanted to prioritize time with his family.

Things took a turn for the worse after he resigned from Marcos’ Cabinet, as the Partido Federal ng Pilipinas (PFP), the political party of the President, expelled Rodriguez from its ranks in November 2022.

The PFP said that Rodriguez was expelled for "incompetence as a public servant, conduct inimical to the interests of the party, abuse and breach of trust and confidence reposed on him by the President and the party, abandonment, and disloyalty."

In January 2024, Rodriguez joined local government officials and supporters of Duterte in a leaders’ forum in Davao City ahead of a prayer rally that will be held against the signature campaign to push for Charter change.

Rodriguez told GMA News Online that he was invited to be part of the leaders’ forum.

He also voiced his sentiment against the people’s initiative pushing for the amendment of the 1987 Constitution.

In October 2024, he filed his certificate of candidacy for senator. He said he will run as an independent.

In January 2025, Rodriguez, along with Davao City 3rd District Representative Isidro Ungab and others, asked the Supreme Court to declare the 2025 national budget as unconstitutional amid alleged irregularities and supposed blank items in the bicameral conference committee report.

Marcos has repeatedly said that there were no blank pages in the bicameral conference committee report on the 2025 budget.

During the “Tanong ng Bayan: The GMA Senatorial Face Off 2025,” in February 2025, Rodriguez explained the real reason why he had a fallout with the President.

“Hindi ko masikmura ang korupsyon kung kaya't ako ay umalis ng Malacañang. Ako ay binigyan pa ng isang posisyon, ang Presidential Chief of Staff, subalit hindi ko na gusto ‘yung direksyon na kanilang tinatahak. Kaya sabi ko, ayoko na at ako'y babalik na lang sa pribado,” Rodriguez answered.

(I could not stomach the corruption, that's why I left Malacañang. I was given one more position, the Presidential Chief of Staff, but I no longer liked the direction they were taking. So I said, I don't want to do it anymore and I'd just go back to private life.)

While he ran as an independent candidate in the 2025 elections, he was endorsed by PDP-Laban chairman and former president Rodrigo Duterte during the party’s proclamation rally on February 13, 2025 in San Juan City.

VP Sara Duterte impeachment

Ahead of the impeachment proceedings, in March 2026, Rodriguez joined several lawyers in asking the SC to issue a TRO to prevent the House of Representatives from proceeding with the impeachment complaints against Vice President Sara Duterte.

In a 186-page petition, the petitioners asked the SC to declare that the House Justice Committee gravely abused its discretion by sustaining the third and fourth impeachment complaints against Duterte, arguing they lacked sufficiency in form and substance.

They also asked the SC to declare that the third and fourth impeachment complaints should have been dismissed at the threshold for insufficiency in form and/ or substance.

On August 5, 2026, the SC dismissed the consolidated petitions, ruling that they are moot as the Senate impeachment court is already on its Day 13 of trial.

Rodriguez was born on December 12, 1973 in Quezon City. He finished his Bachelor of Laws at the University of Sto. Tomas. He took an Executive Education Program at the National University of Singapore.

According to his bio, he was elected barangay captain in 1994. —LDF, GMA News