VP Duterte impeachment trial timeline tightens as pretrial drags on

Senate Secretary Renato Bantug said the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte can still begin on July 6 as scheduled, although the timeline is becoming increasingly compressed as pretrial proceedings continue.

Bantug, who will serve as clerk of the impeachment court, said the release of the pretrial order is a critical step and should ideally happen by early next week to keep the schedule intact.

“While it may be difficult on the part of the court, on the part of the staff, July 6 as the start of the trial proper is not yet an impossibility. Tight but not impossible,” Bantug told Senate reporters.

When asked how soon the order must be issued to avoid disrupting the timetable, Bantug said it should be released by “Monday or Tuesday.”

Once the pretrial order is issued, both the prosecution and defense panels will have three days to file their responses.

“Still doable since their three days to reply will end before July 6,” he explained.

The pretrial conference entered its fourth day on Wednesday and could continue into a fifth day, extending beyond initial expectations that the process would be completed within two days.

According to Bantug, delays have not been caused by the mechanics of the evidence-marking process itself. Instead, the challenge stems from the large volume of documentary evidence that must be processed before trial.

To speed up the work, additional teams have been assigned to assist with the marking of exhibits, while working hours have been extended until 7:00 p.m.

The workload is particularly heavy for Article I of the impeachment complaint, where roughly 8,000 exhibits—about 4,000 from each side—must be marked by the Senate Secretariat and signed by representatives of both the prosecution and defense.

Despite the longer-than-expected pretrial phase, Bantug said there have been no discussions about postponing the scheduled start of the impeachment trial.

-Paraluman News