By Benjamin Cuaresma
MANILA — The proposed Dec. 16 deadline for a final verdict in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment trial has been thrown into uncertainty after Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan said the Senate impeachment court has yet to approve any timetable for the proceedings.
Pangilinan, one of the senator-judges, directly challenged the impression created by impeachment court spokesperson Reginald Tongol that Dec. 16 had already emerged as the target date for the court’s final ruling.
According to Pangilinan, the impeachment court has not formally or informally discussed or decided on a verdict date, including Dec. 16.
His statement came a day after Tongol said the court had become increasingly confident that the trial could be completed before the Senate’s holiday recess and that a final verdict could be reached by Dec. 16.
Tongol based the projected date on the trial’s faster-than-expected pace, following the prosecution’s decision to drop several witnesses from its original lineup.
The prosecution is expected to complete its presentation of evidence for Article II, which involves allegations of unexplained wealth, within the coming week if it does not add more witnesses or testimony.
The trial is scheduled to recess after Oct. 15 and resume on Nov. 23. Once the prosecution rests, the defense is expected to receive 30 days to present its evidence.
That projected sequence was the basis for Tongol’s Dec. 16 estimate.
But Pangilinan said the spokesperson’s projection should not be mistaken for an official decision of the impeachment court.
“This verdict date is merely the opinion of the spokesperson,” Pangilinan said, adding that, as a senator-judge, he did not share Tongol’s view.
He further said Tongol had no authority to issue personal opinions on behalf of the impeachment court.
The disagreement effectively draws a line between a projected trial timetable and an actual court-approved schedule.
Tongol’s assessment was based on the current pace of the proceedings and the assumption that the defense would use the full 30 days allotted to it. Pangilinan, however, stressed that the impeachment court itself had not yet taken up or approved such a timetable.
The timing is significant because the prosecution is still presenting evidence involving allegations of unexplained wealth and financial transactions linked to Duterte and her husband, Manases Carpio.
The court recently postponed the testimony of Anti-Money Laundering Council Executive Director Ronel Buenaventura after the defense sought additional time to review documents submitted by the agency.
With the prosecution still completing its presentation and the defense yet to begin its own case, the actual duration of the trial remains dependent on the evidence, witnesses and proceedings still to come.
For now, Dec. 16 is a projected target cited by the court spokesperson—not a verdict date formally set by the impeachment court, according to Pangilinan.
The final timetable remains subject to the court’s own action as the impeachment proceedings continue.
ia/xf
