The Philippine Senate has set May 18 as the date it will formally constitute itself into an impeachment court to take up the case against Vice President Sara Duterte, Senate President Alan Peter Cayetano announced Thursday.
Cayetano confirmed the schedule in a letter addressed to House Speaker Faustino Dy III, signed before members of the press and dated May 14. The letter formally acknowledged that the Senate had received the Articles of Impeachment against the vice president, together with all accompanying annexes.
The session is set for 3:00 p.m., with Cayetano noting it could proceed “at the soonest possible time, absent any question on the rules and procedure relating to the transmitted Articles.”
“Pursuant to Rule 1 of the Senate Rules of Procedure on Impeachment Rules, the Senate has taken proper order of the impeachment and shall immediately proceed to its consideration, consistent with its mandate under Article XI, Section 3 of the Constitution,” the Senate president said.
He added that the secretariat had been directed to place the Articles of Impeachment on the Calendar for Ordinary Business for referral to the impeachment court. The parties involved, Cayetano said, would subsequently be notified of the date they are required to appear before the court.
The House voted 257-25-9 on May 11 to impeach Duterte, triggering the constitutional process that now shifts to the Senate.
