THE Senate, sitting as impeachment court, starts today, July 6, the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.
Duterte, the first vice president to face an impeachment trial, faces four complaints. A conviction on any of the complaints will be enough to oust her.
The trial will be held from Monday to Wednesday at 2 p.m.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday said Day 1 of the trial will focus on preliminaries, with the prosecution and defense panels giving their opening statements.
Gatchalian said he will be the presiding officer amid debates questioning his competency for the role, since he is not a lawyer.
Gatchalian argued that under the rules, the Senate president will be the presiding officer.
He said witnesses will be summoned and evidence presented on Tuesday.
Gatchalian said that during the senators caucus on Friday, they had a long discussion on the court’s custody of the “BIR box” which contains the tax records of Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio.
“But that is [supposed to be] evidence [against Duterte]. And the evidence should be in the custody of the prosecution or defense,” he said.
Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the Duterte trial presents an opportunity for senators to work together as one institution despite their differences.
“We can do our work without having to resort to confrontations or threats,” Lacson said in a radio interview on Saturday.
“There are ways to get our points across, and if we disagree, we settle it through debates and not through insults and personal attacks,” he said in English and Filipino.
Duterte is not the first high government official to be tried for impeachment offenses. That distinction belongs to former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada.
Estrada’s trial in January 2001 ended abruptly after the House prosecution team walked out in protest after 11 senators allied with Estrada voted against the opening of an envelope that supposedly contained evidence that boosted allegations that he kept a secret bank account containing P3.3 billion.
The walkout triggered the so-called EDSA 2 revolution that led to Estrada’s ouster.
In 2012, the Senate impeachment court convicted chief justice Renato Corona over his failure to fully disclose assets in his statement of assets, liabilities and net worth.
Duterte is being charged for alleged misuse of confidential funds, amassing unexplained wealth, alleged bribery and the intent to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., his wife, and first cousin, former House speaker Martin Romualdez.
Manila 3rd District Rep. Joel Chua, a member of the House prosecution team, called the start of the impeachment trial of Duterte as the “first day toward the truth.”
“For months, the public has heard allegations, denials and political commentary. On July 6, the Filipino people will finally see the impeachment process do what it was designed to do — hear the preliminaries and evidence in the succeeding days,” Chua said in a statement on Sunday.
The prosecution is expected to call its first witnesses on July 7 and 8.
House of Representatives impeachment spokesman Robert Ace Barbers said on Sunday that the first day will be devoted to making sure the rules are clear and that the direction of the trial is in order.
Barbers said the prosecution is ready to present its case once the trial reaches the presentation of evidence stage.
He said the public should not measure the progress of the trial by who appears to have won the legal exchanges on the first day.
“This is not a debate competition. This is not a race of sound bites’ number. The true scale of this case is the evidence to be presented and the would-be decision of the impeachment court based on the Constitution and truth,” Barbers said.
He said the public should view Monday’s proceedings as an affirmation that the country’s constitutional institutions are functioning as intended.
Kabataan Partylist Rep. Renee Co, also a House trial spokesman, encouraged the youth “to watch the proceedings from Day One. Seeing viral clips or social media summaries will not be enough. Watch the process unfold. Understand how processes work and why accountability matters in a democracy.”
“One of the most important lessons our youth can learn is that public office is a public trust. No matter how high the position, every public official remains accountable to the Filipino people under the Constitution,” Co said.
