Senators, who will sit as judges in the impeachment trial of Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Andres D. Bautista for alleged corruption and unexplained wealth, will “find time” to simultaneously perform their lawmaking tasks, allaying concerns pending legislations will be relegated to the back burner.
“We will find time,” Senate President Aquilino L. Pimentel III assured on Thursday. “It is part of our job.”
Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III, in a separate interview, confirmed the Senate’s readiness to take on the task when asked if they are preparing to adjust the Upper House’s calendar and order of business, even as it awaits transmittal of the articles of impeachment from the House of Representatives.
“Yes. We are constrained by the Constitution,” Sotto told the BusinessMirror. “It says we must convene ‘forthright’; that is the wording of the Constitution.”
Sotto suggested that one option is for the Senate to split the weekly legislative work schedule, unlike the morning and afternoon formula when the Senate first convened as an impeachment court to try the late Chief Justice Renato Corona, sitting as legislators in the morning plenary session and as impeachment judges in the afternoon trial.
The majority leader added the senators may also opt to adopt the three days-two days formula for splitting the work week for legislative work and impeachment trial.
However, Pimentel pointed out that the Senate preparations may be “rendered moot” should Bautista fulfill his announced plan to resign by December 31. “We have yet to see his resignation letter, but that is what he said,” Pimentel said.
He added that the Senate impeachment proceedings will be aborted soon after Bautista steps down. “We will stop the proceedings since there is no reason to proceed,” the Senate President said, but added: “We will proceed with the preparations for convening the Senate as an impeachment court because “we have no right to assume”.
This developed as Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon voiced misgivings that the legislative’s priority agenda, topped by the passage of the proposed 2018 national budget and the tax-reform package, could be derailed by Bautista’s impeachment trial.
“The deliberations on the proposed 2018 national budget and the TRAIN [Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act] will have to take a backseat once the Senate begins the impeachment trial against Chairman Andy Bautista,” Drilon said. “Our calendar is too tight, and the impeachment case will eat up a lot of our time when we resume session in November. Legislative work will be seriously affected and that is a matter that the leadership should highly consider,” the senator said.