Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday said the Senate convening as an impeachment court for the trial of Vice President Sara Duterte on Monday is a breath of fresh air, but urged the public to be vigilant, especially when the official trial starts in the coming days or weeks.

“The stark contrast between the smell of gunpowder last week and the breath of fresh air in the Senate yesterday was evident when we convened as an impeachment court after all the parliamentary procedures were strictly followed. May the public vigilance remain unabated,” he said in a post on X.

Lacson said the Senate turned into an impeachment compared to last week’s tense events, was far from the “smell of gunpowder” from a shooting incident in the Senate building.

Last weekend, Lacson pointed out that arrogance of power and impunity have their limits in the wake of last week’s events.

“Arrogance of power, like impunity, has its limits,” Lacson said.

Process

Even if the Senate has convened as an impeachment court, it is still following a chronology of process after it received the verified Articles of Impeachment from the House of Representatives, meaning it cannot immediately start the proceedings.

After convening as an Impeachment Court, a writ of summons will be issued to the being impeached official, in this case, Vice President Duterte.

The official has a non-extendible period of 10 days to file a formal verified answer to the charges.

The Senate has allowed the electronic filing of all pleadings and motions related to the impeachment proceedings.

The trial follows with some members of the House of Representatives acting as prosecutors, and senators serve as judges.

According to Congress, Batangas Representative Gerville "Jinky" Luistro was tapped as the head of the 11-member prosecution team.

However, the Duterte camp has not yet released the names of the members of their defense team.

After presentation of evidence from the defense and prosecution, Senators will then vote on each article of impeachment via a roll call. A conviction requires the concurrence of at least two-thirds (2/3) of the sitting Senators, or 16 conviction votes.

A source from the Senate said the official impeachment trial may start either on the second or third week of June.