Gatchalian on another presiding officer for Duterte case: For discussion

MANILA, Philippines — The possibility of having another senator, such as Sen. Francis Escudero, preside over the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte remains up for discussion within the new majority bloc, according to Senate President Pro Tempore Sherwin Gatchalian.

“We haven’t discussed anything like that yet. It’s still something the group will talk about,” Gatchalian said in a Zoom interview on Wednesday.

He was asked about reports that Escudero, a lawyer, might preside over the impeachment trial of Duterte.

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Escudero is now identified with the new Senate majority after attending the Senate’s last session day on June 3, during which a new set of officials, including Gatchalian, was installed.

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During that session, which was attended by 12 senators, the Senate also amended the impeachment rules to allow another senator to preside over an impeachment court.

READ: Amended rules now allow other senators to preside over impeachment trial

Under the rules, the Senate president presides over all impeachment cases except when the President of the Philippines is on trial. In such cases, the chief justice serves as the presiding officer.

The amended rules still designate the Senate president as the presiding officer “unless the Senate, by a majority vote of the members present, elects another senator as the presiding officer.”

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As acting Senate president, Gatchalian maintains that he would preside over the impeachment trial of Duterte, which is set to begin on July 6.

But when asked whether a new presiding officer would later be elected to replace him, the acting Senate leader said: “We’ll talk about that later. It still needs to be discussed.”

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The Senate has been embroiled in a leadership dispute since Gatchalian assumed his new role, while Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano continues to assert that he remains Senate president.

Sen. Loren Legarda also maintains that she is still the Senate president pro tempore.

Gatchalian said he could only hope that the issue would be resolved before the special session being eyed to approve important legislation and address other pending matters affected by the leadership conflict.

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Asked whether the leadership issue could be settled during the special session, Gatchalian explained in Filipino: “The primary objective of the special session is to address pending legislation, confirmations, and other items that were left behind because we had no sessions for a long time, so many were delayed. But that is also a possibility.” /mcm