Senate holds caucus hours before impeachment trial starts

MANILA, Philippines–Senators held a caucus on Monday to discuss the pending motions filed

during congressional break by both the prosecution and defense teams in the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona.

The caucus started at 10:30 a.m. or just hours before the 2:00 p.m. scheduled opening of the impeachment trial in the Senate, which will serve as an impeachment court for Corona.

“Lahat ng naka-file, ita-tackle namin in the caucus so that during the impeachment proper at 2 p.m. we will depose of the motion, either approve or disapprove,” Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III told reporters before the Senate resumed its regular session at 9:00 a.m.

“At least ‘yung mga debate ng senador naibabawas na natin sa maaaring magiging delay dahil sa caucus palang pwede na naming idebate (At least, the debates that might delay the trial would be lessened),” Sotto added.
It was the Majority Leader who moved for the suspension of the session to pave the way for the caucus.

Among the pending motions filed during the Christmas break were Corona’s reply to the complaint and his motion for preliminary hearing, his request to subpoena House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte and other officials and members of the House of Representatives involved in the filing of the complaint against him, and the Chief Justice’s motion to impose disciplinary measures against the prosecutors for making public disclosure of evidence against him.

The prosecution team, on its part, also filed a request before the Senate to subpoena Corona and some family members as well as pertinent documents pertaining to 45 real estate properties that he allegedly owned.

“We have to reach a resolution today,” Sotto said, *“The idea is to resolve all of them so that when the impeachment court convened we are ready to depose of the motion.”