Extension of trial deadline sought; longer hours mulled

The prosecution team in the impeachment trial of President Estrada will seek the extension of the Jan. 19 deadline for the presentation of all evidence and witnesses, an opposition congressman said yesterday.

United opposition spokesman and Isabela Rep. Heherson Alvarez said the prosecution will seek a reconsideration after the court’s earlier decision to have the presentation of evidence wrapped up within the week.

Alvarez said the prosecution still has a lot of evidence to present.

"These cannot be presented in a week," he said.

The Senate impeachment tribunal is now studying the possibility of extending the trial hours from the original six (2-8 p.m.) to up to eight.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel Jr. said prosecutors may need the extension because they have to stick to the original deadline.

Pimentel said another alternative being considered is the holding of hearings on Saturdays and Sundays.

However, the said alternative would have to be determined by the pace of the trial this week.

Private prosecutor and former congressman Hernando Perez, who proposed the longer hours, said it was highly unfair for the prosecution to be given a deadline to present evidence.

"This is the only case I know of that has a deadline set for the presentation of evidence," Perez said. "What happens to the evidence we cannot present. Do we throw them away?"

He said a reconsideration on the deadline should be made based on the grounds that several witnesses are still abroad, and that the prosecution has no control over the duration of cross-examinations.

Perez said the defense panel has been employing tactics to delay the proceedings.

"All of these are eating up our time. I hope they are taken to account by the court," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Francisco Tatad supported the move to have longer hours, as long as the extension is "within human endurance."

Tatad admitted that after certain number of hours, most senator-judges succumb to fatigue.

"Longer hours may also be counter-productive," he warned. "Personally, at the end of the day, I feel brain dead."

Tatad pointed out that most senators begin working in the mornings, sometimes skipping lunch just to take up legislative measures before the six-hour impeachment trial.

"But we are willing to extend the trial hours as long as our stamina will allow it," he said. – With Perseus Echeminada