IT’S all systems go for the Senate as members of the chamber are set to convene into an impeachment court on June 3.
Senate secretary Renato Bantug yesterday said the Senate will open its regular session on June 2, at its usual time of 3 p.m. The Senate leadership will then recognize the members of the prosecution panel of the House of Representatives, who will formally present the Articles of Impeachment in an open session.
Iloilo Rep. Lorenz Defensor, a member of the 11-man House prosecution team, said only one of them will present the seven Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Sara Duterte before the Senate on June 2.
“I understand based on the agreement between the House of Representatives and the Senate that one prosecutor will be asked to read the seven Articles of Impeachment during the June 2 session of the Senate,” he said, refusing to name the lawmaker who was chosen to present the complaint.
Defensor expressed hope the senators, who will sit as judges in the impeachment trial, will be able to fulfill their constitutional duty by being impartial.
“…I want to see that senator-judges will act independently. And while we agree that it’s a political process and the senators have their own affiliations, we want to see… an objective trial when it comes to the presentation of evidence by the prosecution as well as by the defense,” he said.
Bantug said that after the Articles of Impeachment are formally presented, Senate President Francis Escudero will inform all that the chamber will transform itself into an impeachment court the next morning. From there, he said, the Senate president will choose the person who will administer his oath as the presiding officer of the impeachment court, and in return, administer the oath of the senators as impeachment trial judges, this time they will be all wearing robes.
Escudero earlier said that the House prosecutors have been formally informed about the presentation of the Articles of Impeachment.
He also said newly-elected senators in the 20th Congress will have to be sworn in as impeachment court judges on July 29, or a day after the President delivers his State of the Nation Adress.
Trial proper will start on July 30.
Bantug said about 340 people may be accommodated in the Senate session hall, including guests of senators, prosecutors, and the defense panel, Senate staff members, and the media.
The House transmitted the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate on February 5, the last session day of Congress before it took a long break for the midterm elections.
As a result, it was not formally presented to the Senate plenary due to time constraints.
Last February, Escudero ordered the organization of the Senate’s “relevant offices” to lead in the preparations for the impeachment trial. He designated Bantug as the Clerk of Court, who will assist the presiding officer in the administration of the impeachment trial, including the management of non-judicial functions of the court, recording and reporting of the proceedings.
