Senator Francis 'Chiz' Escudero takes his oath as the new Senate President on May 20, 2024.   Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA (UPDATED) — The impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte may begin on July 30, according to a timetable proposed by Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero, who also said House prosecutors may present the Article of Impeachment to the Senate when Congress returns from break on June 2.

In a letter to his colleagues dated February 24, Escudero officially took up the matter of impeachment, which the Senate had not included on its agenda before it went on recess this month.

"In the present case against the Vice President, the complaint was received late in the afternoon of our last session day," Escudero said, citing lack of "sufficient prior notice" for the chamber to discuss and amend its impeachment rules and procedures.

Escudero orders Senate offices to prepare for VP Duterte impeachment trial

He said that despite the break, his office has been reviewing the existing rules on impeachment and has drafted proposed amendments to them.

Among the amendments that will be proposed, Escudero said, are ones that would:

1. Authorize the Senate president to issue summons on the person impeached and preside over the pre-trial and the receipt of judicial affidavits

2. Incorporate directly or by reference, Revised Rules of Court provisions on judicial affidavits, pre-trial conference, reception of evidence, electronic filing of pleadings, and other matters

3. Provide clear guidance on the procedure to be followed in case the trial is not concluded before the sine die adjournment of Congress.

"The proposed amendments shall be circulated to all the Senators for review, comment or further amendments on or before March 31 so that the revised rules can be approved by the Senate in plenary when we resume session on June 2, 2025," he also said.

Escudero has written Vice President Duterte and House Speaker Martin Romualdez to inform them of steps his office has taken on the impeachment case and of the proposed timeline for the trial.

Duterte has filed a petition at the Supreme Court for a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injuction, saying the impeachment complaint the House endorsed violated a one-year ban on impeachment complaints after one has been initiated.

Another petition, filed by Kingdom of Jesus Christ lawyer Israelito Torreon and others, seeks a similar remedy, arguing Duterte's impeachment was "procedurally defective, constitutionally infirm, and jurisdictionally void."

THE TIMELINE

The impeachment court will be convened on June 3, with incumbent senators taking their oaths in the morning.

The court would issue summons on June 4 and would receive pleadings from June 14 to 24, followed by pre-trial on the 24th and 25th.

Newly elected senators who will sit as judges in the impeachment court will take their oaths on July 29, a day after the inaugural session of the 20th Congress and the State of the Nation Address that President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is scheduled to deliver before a joint session of Congress.

Trial would begin on July 30.

Marcos Jr not keen on calling special session to start VP Sara impeachment trial - Palace

"The Senate hopes to adhere to the foregoing schedule and, considering that both the prosecution and defense will have ample time to prepare for the proceedings, will not tolerate any dilatory motion or pleading," Escudero said in his letter. 

The Senate president acknowledged comments from various camps that called on the Senate to proceed to trial even while Congress is on recess, but said that his proposed timetable is based on jurisprudence "which interprets 'forthwith' to mean 'within reasonable time, which may be a longer or shorter period, according to the circumstances of each particular case'."

He said the question had already been debated in past impeachment trials, adding calling a special session to hold an impeachment trial is not among the powers of a Senate president.

"A misapplication of Section 42 [of the Rules of the Senate] and the lack of an enabling resolution from plenary can lead to unintended or even dangerous consequences," he said. — with RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News