Senate nixes daylong impeachment trial

MANILA, Philippines—Instead of holding a daylong trial, the Senate sitting as an impeachment court decided on Wednesday to lengthen the proceeding from 2 p.m. up to at least 7 p.m. in the evening of Mondays to Thursdays, Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile said on Wednesday.

“What is definite as of the moment is that we will lengthen the time of trial in the afternoon,” Enrile told reporters after meeting with the heads of the defense and prosecution panels, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Serafin Cuevas and Iloilo Niel Tupas Jr., respectively.

In the meeting, Enrile said Cuevas “begged off” on his original proposal to hold morning and afternoon hearings (from 9 a.m. to 12 noon and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.) of Monday to Thursdays, saying they have to prepare their witnesses every day.

“So they want the afternoon session to continue. So in order to accommodate the desire of many of my colleagues in the Senate as well as a of the prosecution to hasten the completion of the trial of this case, I suggested to both sides that we should lengthen the time of trial in the afternoon, instead of from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., we can go at least 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.,” said Enrile.

Instead of taking a break for the Lenten season on March 23, the prosecution team suggested that Congress extend its work for another week or up to March 29.

And if Congress could not extend its work until March 29, Enrile said the prosecution team suggested that it should come back earlier than the scheduled resumption on May 7.

Both proposals were thumbed down by the senators.

After conferring with his colleagues, Senate Majority Leader Vicente “Tito” Sotto III told reporters that the general sentiment was to stick with the original calendar of Congress.

Sotto said it would be futile for Congress to extend its work for another week or to resume earlier than May 2012 if the trial could not be finished.

So if the original schedule will push through, then Enrile said the month of April will become a “rest, quieting, and cooling period” for participants in the trial.

Enrile assured that the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, would render a verdict before Congress goes on a final sine die in June 2012.

“Definitely, we will have to render a decision before we go on a final sine die in June,” the Senate leader added.