Most members of the minority bloc led by Senator Alan Cayetano failed to show up during the all-senators caucus convened on Friday to discuss preparations for the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte scheduled to begin on 6 July.

Only Senators Loren Legarda and Robin Padilla from the opposition bloc were present. The rest were absent, including Senator Rodante Marcoleta who was charged with plunder by the Ombudsman at the Sandiganbayan on Friday.

Aside from Cayetano, the no-shows were Senators Pia Cayetano, Imee Marcos, Bong Go and Mark and Camille Villar. The minority bloc is comprised mostly of senators allied with Duterte.

Those in the majority bloc who were absent were Senators Bam Aquino, Lito Lapid, Kiko Pangilinan, Raffy Tulfo and Joel Villanueva.

Senators Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa and Jinggoy Estrada, who are in the minority, were unable to attend the closed-door meeting due to their current circumstances.

Dela Rosa is in hiding from an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, while Estrada is detained at the Quezon City jail on plunder charges linked to anomalous flood control projects.

The senators at the pre-trial meeting were reluctant to provide details as questions on the conviction threshold persisted amid the looming arrest of Marcoleta.

Senator Erwin Tulfo, however, told reporters the discussion focused solely on the impeachment trial and not on Marcoleta.

“We were given documents to follow the sequencing. We didn’t talk about any other senators. It was all about the impeachment,” Tulfo said partly in Filipino in an interview after the caucus.

The Senate impeachment court has allotted 92 trial dates to the prosecution and the defense teams.

The House prosecutors will devote 31 days or the lion’s share of their allotted 62 trial dates to argue the alleged misuse of Duterte’s confidential funds and unexplained wealth. The remaining 30 days are intended for the VP’s lawyers.

Win to preside

In recent weeks, senators from the majority bloc also figured in a supposed deadlock over who would preside over the impeachment trial, as some suggested Senator Chiz Escudero. At the same time, Senate President Win Gatchalian insisted he would preside.

The presiding officer of a Senate impeachment court is traditionally the Senate leader, except when the President of the country is on trial.

However, senators in the Gatchalian-led bloc amended the Senate rules in early June to allow them to elect a presiding officer in addition to the Senate president.

Early Friday, before the caucus, Gatchalian brought the dispute to a close by confirming in a radio interview that he would lead the trial as the presiding officer, pursuant to the Senate rules.

Previously, Senator Panfilo Lacson had said there was a consensus within the majority to tap Escudero to preside over the trial given his legal background and experience in past impeachment proceedings.

The announcement, however, met strong opposition from Tindig Pilipinas, a multisectoral group supportive of the VP’s ouster and one of the complainants in the articles of impeachment.

The group argued that Escudero was “the most dangerous” option, pointing to the senator’s “twisted interpretation” of the constitutional directive to proceed “forthwith” with the trial in the first impeachment case lodged by the House of Representatives against Duterte in February last year.

They contended that Escudero’s lack of urgency “became the basis for the delay and deferment of the impeachment process.”

The group also asserted that Escudero’s legal competence “does not guarantee” that he would be impartial in the proceedings and would abide by the Constitution, given his allegedly flawed interpretation of key impeachment provisions.

The group’s co-convenor, Francis Joseph “Kiko” Aquino-Dee, said he personally supported Senator Kiko Pangilinan, also a lawyer, as presiding officer. However, his position differs from the group’s, which preferred Gatchalian.

Public scrutiny on trial

With the impeachment trial set to open on Monday, calls are growing for Filipinos to follow the proceedings and judge the evidence for themselves.

Prosecution spokesperson and former Rep. Ace Barbers urged citizens to tune in, saying the trial offers a transparent platform to uncover the truth.

“Let’s examine the evidence carefully,” he said in a radio interview. “Let’s watch, participate, and then form our own opinions. We ourselves should judge what the truth is.”