Sherwin Gatchalian open to reverting hearings to afternoon

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday said he is open to moving the schedule of Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial back to the afternoon as the Senate prepares to begin hearings on the proposed 2027 national budget.

Gatchalian told Super Radyo dzBB that the Senate is considering the working hours of its staff as it arranges its schedule, while seeking to conclude the impeachment proceedings “as soon as possible.”

“I’m open to holding the impeachment trial in the afternoon,” Gatchalian said, adding that an impeachment trial usually takes five to six hours a day.

“We’re still assessing the best arrangement to give more time to the impeachment trial so it can be concluded promptly.”

The Senate impeachment court is currently deliberating on Article 1 of the impeachment complaint, which accuses Duterte of committing impeachable offenses.

The offenses allegedly involve the systematic misappropriation and irregular liquidation of confidential funds amounting to ₱500 million released to the Office of the Vice President (OVP) and ₱112.5 million to the Department of Education (DepEd) during her tenure as education secretary.

On Wednesday, state auditor Xylene del Campo testified that the conduct of confidential operations is not part of the mandate of the OVP or the DepEd secretary.

She also said the tree-planting activities, Christmas parties and other social services conducted by the OVP before it received its 2022 confidential funds on Dec. 21, 2022, could not be used to liquidate the funds.

Under Joint Circular 2015-01, which governs the use of confidential and intelligence funds, confidential funds cannot be used for reimbursement, she said.

READ: Sara Duterte impeachment trial Day 15: Confidential ops not part of VP Sara mandate

In a separate statement, Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr. said senator-judges should base their judgment on the evidence presented rather than on political biases.

“This is the evidence, and it is all laid out before them. I hope the senator-judges will not have blinders, or what we might call ‘political cataracts,’ that would prevent them from seeing the evidence presented.”

Abante said the same standard should apply to Filipinos following the nationally televised and livestreamed proceedings.

OVP budget

As the budget season begins, Duterte is expected to attend the budget hearings for the OVP. However, Gatchalian said issues being tackled by the impeachment court cannot be raised during the OVP budget hearing.

“Now that it is already part of the case, discussing it further during the hearing would be sub judice. So let us just respect the impeachment court and the impeachment process,” Gatchalian said.

“She will appear as the head of the agency. Her budget will be discussed in her capacity as head of the agency, but the issues currently being tackled by the impeachment court can no longer be discussed because they are already part of the case,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Senate will not provide confidential funds to the OVP, DepEd and other civilian agencies, Gatchalian said.

“Not just the OVP and DepEd, but other civilian agencies as well. As a rule, we will not allow confidential funds. If there are any requests, they will have to be properly justified, and we will scrutinize them closely,” he said.

On Tuesday, the Senate formally received a copy of the ₱7.2-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP) for fiscal year 2027.

The proposed budget prioritizes education, healthcare, livelihood, national security and community empowerment, in line with the administration’s theme of “people-centered growth for an inclusive and resilient future.”— MCG, GMA News