Impeachment trial to be completed in a month

If the Senate adopts the proposed impeachment rules patterned after those of the United States Senate, the impeachment trial against President Estrada will be completed in a month, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel assured.

Pimentel, chairman of the powerful Blue Ribbon Committee and who’s reportedly being groomed as the next Senate president, said the trial will be fast-tracked if the Senate holds daily hearings except on Sundays until it reaches a verdict, as provided for in the proposed rules filed last week.

"The early approval of the rules is sought so as not to delay the impeachment proceedings once the resolution on impeachment or the articles or complaint of impeachment are forwarded to the Senate for trial and decision," he said.

To further speed up the trial, Pimentel said, the Senate has to forgo its Christmas break.

However, an initial draft of the rules released by the Senate secretariat contained a provision allowing each Senator to ask questions during the trial.

That provision is expected to slow down the process. It was apparently inserted since it was not contained in the Pimentel resolution and the US impeachment rules do not have a similar provision.

One other concern which the Senate has to resolve is the number of votes needed to convict the President, 15 or 16. The Constitution stipulates that a vote of two-thirds of the Senate is needed for a conviction.

The Senate has an official membership of 24 senators, two-thirds of which is 16. But the current Senate has 22 members, two-thirds of which is 15.

It used to have 24 senators until Sen. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo became Vice President in 1998 and Senate President Marcelo Fernan died of an illness in July last year.

Pimentel, whose committee is currently investigating the jueteng scandal, said the probe will continue until the House of Representatives sends the impeachment complaint to the Senate.

The House is expected to elevate the complaint to the Senate tomorrow. But pro-administration congressmen are also widely expected to make last-ditch attempts to delay the proceedings.

Meanwhile, President Estrada denied the political opposition’s accusation that the administration will install saboteurs in the House prosecution team that will pursue the case in the impeachment trial.

"Everything is blamed on me. All of these allegations, all of these criticisms just won’t stop," Mr. Estrada complained in his weekly radio-TV program, "Jeep ni Erap."

"I don’t want to answer anymore these allegations. If I answer each of them, I will only get tired. I have so much work to do as a President. I will just leave these things to God. Pity them."

The leader of the opposition in the House, Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), said Malacañang, through its House allies, will put "Trojan horses" or prosecutors friendly to the President in the prosecution team.

Belmonte made the accusation after Rep. Anthony Dequina (LAMP, North Cotabato) said that if they unseat Speaker Manuel Villar Jr., they will choose impeachment prosecutors who are against impeachment.

Dequina and other LAMP congressmen want Villar ousted after he defected with over 40 congressmen to the opposition and backed the impeachment complaint.