Impeachment court eyes whole-day trial

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate impeachment court may hold whole-day trials in October as senators juggle their duties as judges trying Vice President Sara Duterte and as senators scrutinizing next year’s proposed P7.2-trillion budget.

Before adjourning Day 21 of the trial yesterday, presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero informed parties of the possible grueling schedule on Oct. 1, 2, 5 to 9 and 12 to 15, from 10 a.m. to “early evening” and “on some occasion, exceed dinner time.”

There will be no trial during the interim between Oct. 16 and Nov. 6 to give way to budget committee hearings, as well as the Undas break.

Trial will resume on Nov. 9 and 16, but only from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., then “proceed to normal programming” starting Nov. 23 “until we finish the case” by December, the court’s target verdict date, according to Escudero.

“This is a heads-up that time may come that we will have a whole-day trial, so we can dispense one to three witnesses per trial date,” Escudero said.

Defense lawyers said they are ready for the new schedule.

Sen. JV Ejercito said the new setup may be “the best solution” for senators to don their hats as jurors and as lawmakers to have committee and plenary debates on the outlay.

“The problem is it’s either we finish impeachment or else we have a reenacted budget,” Ejercito said.

Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri said he is feeling the toll of working for 12 hours a day.

Impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol said another setup being looked into would allow senators to attend budget hearings while trial is ongoing as part of the “continuing quorum” rule.

During yesterday’s plenary session, senators approved Zubiri’s motion for the suspension of Senate rules to allow senators to still be declared present for the plenary session while attending budget committee hearings.

–  Bella Cariaso