Senate Impeachment Court Eyeing Schedule Flip
Holding the trial in the afternoon means both prosecution and defense, as well as senators, can make good use of the time to dispense with one witness per day in direct and cross-examinations and interjections.
The Senate impeachment court is seriously considering a proposal to hold the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte in the afternoon, according to Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian.
This way, the senators can have regular plenary sessions in the morning and have “one to sawa” (unlimited) hearings for Duterte’s impeachment in the afternoon.
Gatchalian told radios dwIZ and dzMM it was Senate Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri who proposed to switch plenary sessions in the morning and Duterte’s trial to 3 p.m. onwards.
Holding the trial in the afternoon means both prosecution and defense, as well as senators, can make good use of the time to dispense with one witness per day in direct and cross-examinations and interjections.
Gatchalian said under the current schedule, witnesses attend trial for two to three days because each party and the court take two to six hours grilling them.
“The logic is to give the impeachment trial more time. The original plan was to have one witness per day. But now it takes three days for one witness. We want unlimited time for the impeachment trial,” Gatchalian said.
“We are studying the proposal. We want to finish the impeachment trial so we can all return to the normal legislative function,” he added.
Gatchalian acknowledged the difficulty of juggling their mandate as senator-judges and their legislative duties, including approving the national budget.
The Senate received the administration’s National Expenditure Program – which will form the basis for the General Appropriations Act – last Tuesday, Aug. 11.
With the usual marathon budget hearings no longer possible, Gatchalian said senators will have to conduct committee hearings on Thursdays and Fridays to pass the budget on time.
They will also have to suspend their rules to allow senators to conduct budget hearings while the plenary session is ongoing.
Senate finance committee chair JV Ejercito vowed to continue the budget transparency measures put in place by Gatchalian last year when he led the panel.
