House prosecutors on Friday said the Senate’s proposed schedule for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte may still provide enough time to present the case, even as the proceedings approach the start of the national budget season.
In an interview, Renee Co, one of the spokespersons of the House prosecution panel, said they welcomed the Senate’s initial schedule setting the trial three times a week beginning in July.
“For now, we welcome the announcement that there will already be schedules that the Senate is arranging,” Co said. “As to whether it’s going to be satisfactory, we’ll have to see whether the half-day schedule would be sufficient.”
The Senate earlier announced that trial sessions would begin at 2 p.m., weeks before President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivers his State of the Nation Address and before Congress begins deliberations on the proposed 2027 national budget.
Despite concerns over a potentially congested legislative calendar, Co said the setup could still work if hearings proceed consistently.
“If it’s going to happen every day, as per the rules of the Senate and as already candidly shared, then we’ll see that the trial proceeding forthwith, the mandate will be satisfied,” she said.
Co compared the planned schedule with previous House Committee on Justice hearings on the impeachment complaint, which she said usually ran from 10 a.m. to around 4 p.m.
“If the trial would start at 2 p.m. and continue until around 6 or 7 p.m., it would considerably cover the same amount of hours that the House Committee on Justice took every day for the eight hearings,” she said.
She added that holding hearings three times a week in succession could still allow the prosecution to fully present its evidence and materials.
The House prosecution panel is currently conducting mock trials to prepare for the Senate proceedings. Co said prosecutors are estimating the duration of direct examinations, including the presentation of evidence and testimonies aimed at establishing their legal arguments.
“What we can’t really say how long it would take would be the cross-examination, the redirect examination, and then the recross,” she said.
Co said the panel is still determining the number of witnesses it will present, but confirmed that several individuals who appeared during House hearings may be called again. These include witness Madriaga and officials from agencies such as the Anti-Money Laundering Council, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Commission on Audit.
She said prosecutors are also considering calling House secretariat officials to authenticate records and evidence included in the articles of impeachment.
