Senate Eyes Schedule Change to Streamline Sara Duterte Impeachment Trial

The Philippine Senate is considering a change in the schedule for presenting Articles of Impeachment to streamline the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte. Senate President Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian said he is discussing the prospective shift with Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero. In a "24 Oras" report on Friday from Ian Cruz, Gatchalian said that he is discussing the prospective shift with Senate impeachment court presiding officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero. The House prosecution panel has just wrapped up its presentation of witnesses and evidence for Article IV, which tackled Duterte’s death threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez. After the President’s State of the Nation Address on Monday, the prosecution was slated to take up Article I, which zeroes in on Duterte’s alleged misuse of confidential funds. Under the initial agreement, the prosecution would first complete its presentation on all the Articles of Impeachment, after which the defense would address each article individually by presenting its arguments, witnesses, and evidence. The prosecution's presentation of Article IV took nine days. To streamline this, Gatchalian said that he and Escudero are discussing the possibility of allowing the defense to present its response to Article IV before going to Article I. “In that way, the defense can see what the prosecution has already talked about; they can remove their witnesses, and the public can already follow instead of having to go back to the start. That is one of the ways I see we can speed this up and so that the public can understand it more,” Gatchalian said in Filipino. However, this decision will be left to the prosecution and the defense. If they agree, then the schedule will be changed, Gatchalian said. The Senate has already subpoenaed two officials from Landbank who will serve as witnesses for the prosecution for Article I. If the two sides agree to finish Article IV first, then the testimonies of the bank officials will be moved as well. Spokesperson for the prosecution Jay Tolosa said that they are open to this change to speed up the trial. Tolosa said that it would be possible to remove witnesses whose testimonies are already the same as others. GMA News is trying to get the defense’s comment through its spokesperson, Michael Poa. —Jean Mangaluz/LDF, GMA News