BATANGAS 1st District Rep. Leandro Leviste hangs a portrait of his mother, Sen. Loren Legarda, on a wall in his office.
He posted a picture of it on Facebook, saying with a heart emoji, “There is a beautiful portrait in my office.”
The post came several days after the Assumption Student Council encouraged the college’s community to sign a petition to remove a portrait of the senator from the Wall of Empowered Women. “This position is issued in light of the Senate leadership change on May 11, 2026...,” it said in a statement posted on Facebook. Legarda voted for Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano for Senate president.
Before the student council issued the statement, the board of trustees of the Assumption Alumnae Association, in a statement, called on all Assumption alumnae “to return to the women they were formed to be.”
The leadership change in the Senate, which solely has the power to conduct an impeachment trial under the 1987 Constitution, came before the House of Representatives impeached Vice President Sara Duterte on the same day.
The Senate convened as an impeachment court on May 18, 2026, and ordered the issuance of a writ of summons directing her to file an answer on the impeachment complaints sent to the Senate by the House, which, under the Constitution, solely has the power to initiate impeachment cases.
The Office of Vice President Sara Duterte later confirmed receipt of the summons. She has denied the allegations in the two impeachment complaints against her, which the House Committee on Justice heard to determine whether there was probable cause to impeach her. The committee sent the articles of impeachment to the House plenary and, later, the House, voting 257-25 with nine abstentions, impeached Duterte.
Earlier this month, Leviste told his mother that he loved her very much while greeting her with a “Happy Mother’s Day.”