Impeach court eyes whole day October trials, focus on budget in November

MANILA, Philippines – The Senate impeachment court is considering holding whole day proceedings for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, cancelling plenary sessions starting October until the second regular session of the chamber resumes on November 9.

Presiding officer Sen. Francis Escudero informed the court of the proposal “subject to finality” as the chamber struggles to set a schedule for trial and legislative work amid committee hearings for the 2027 national budget.

“On October 1 and 2 our trial shall be for the entire day, from morning until afternoon, we will have no session and even up to early evening. On October 5 to 9, also the whole day from 10 am until early evening… On October 12 to 15, Monday to Thursday, whole day as well until early evening,” Escudero suggested.

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“We shall be suspending the trial to give way to the committee hearings of the [Senate] committee on finance… We have to await  the approval of the House before break on October 8,” he added.

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READ: Senate yet to decide on session, impeachment trial schedules

Escudero also said that there will only be two trial days for the first two weeks of November for budget deliberations.

“We will resume trial on November  9 and 16. Both a Monday. For the following two weeks when we resume on November 9, we will be deliberating on the budget on the floor which usually takes until the wee hours of November,” he said.

After budget deliberations, the trial will “proceed to normal programming on November 23 until we finish the case,” Escudero proposed.

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In response, Senate Finance committee chairperson JV Ejercito hoped that a caucus could be held to find “the best solution” to accommodate all Senate matters.

Senator-judge Juan Miguel Zubiri also lamented that the impeachment trial takes away the chamber’s time to tackle legislative matters, adding that the 12-hour work days thus far have been exhausting.

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“We really have to meet on how we can make our time work. We’re doing three things at the same time for 24 of us – for a small number of people… We just need to know how we can expedite this,” Zubiri said. /gsg