Senate impeachment court cancels hearing on Wednesday for 'strategic pause'

The Senate impeachment court canceled the trial session on Wednesday to take a “strategic procedural pause,” according to the tribunal’s spokesperson on Tuesday night.

The Senate released a notice informing the public that the session for Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial, set for September 30, was cancelled and will continue on Thursday, October 1.

In a statement shortly after, Senate impeachment court spokesperson Attorney Regie Tongol clarified that this was not because of a delay.

“The Impeachment Court is not pausing because it is behind; it is pausing because the Court is aggressively ahead of schedule. Since opening Article II on September 14, the proceedings have advanced at a rigorous pace, with the prosecution already presenting six witnesses in an eight-day span that demonstrates a clear commitment to moving the trial forward without unnecessary stalling through highly focused presentation of evidence,” Tongol said in a statement.

“Tomorrow is a deliberate Strategic Procedural Pause designed to clear the floor so both panels can prepare for the grueling, whole-day (10:00 AM to 6:30 PM) marathon sessions running continuously from October 1 to 15,” he added.

The whole-day trial on Thursday will begin at 10:00 a.m., the spokesperson said.

Tongol said that the pause gave all parties critical breathing room as the next set of evidence to be tackled is the “highly technical, voluminous financial records” from the Anti-Money Laundering Council. —NB, GMA News