The way Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III sees it, he and his colleagues, who will sit as judges in the impeachment court that is the Senate for Gutierrez’s trial, will decide Gutierrez’s fate based partly on public opinion.

“Public opinion or reaction will play a role on how the issue will be decided,” he said.

“In my experience in the last impeachment trial, it was not ideal to view it purely from the judicial perspective, although we were proven right later,” Sotto said.

“We need to strike a balance between the judicial and political perspectives,” he said.

The last impeachment trial referred to was the aborted trial in 2001 of deposed President and convicted plunderer Joseph Estrada.

The trial was cut short when prosecutors walked out after the pro-Estrada senators, including Sotto, voted against the opening of the so-called second envelope believed to contain damaging evidence against Estrada.

Sotto and the members of the pro-Estrada majority maintained that the envelope was not included in the charges against Estrada and as such was not admissible.

What the impeachment court did not resolve was ultimately decided by the people at Edsa, where the second people power uprising ousted Estrada and brought then Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to power.

Lacson factor

According to Sotto, another factor that could work against Gutierrez is the return of Sen. Panfilo Lacson, at least from a statistical standpoint.

Since there are now 23 senators available for the voting, Gutierrez would need eight—not just seven—of them to vote against her ouster, he said.

Regardless of the number of senators present at the trial, 16 votes will still be needed to sustain any one of the six articles of impeachment that the House of Representatives filed against Gutierrez.

The impeachment trial will be open to the public and will involve full media coverage, including live television and radio coverage. Reporters are also expected to make heavy use of the social media—particularly Twitter—to provide a blow-by-blow account of the trial.

No to grandstanding

Senator-judges tempted to “play to the TV cameras” or otherwise try to steal TV time will not be tolerated.

The rules adopted by the Senate empower the Senate President, who will preside at the trial, to keep senator-judges, including representatives from the prosecution and defense, from any form of grandstanding.

“The Senate President has the full power to cut down any unnecessary actuations or excesses or what we call ‘garbage’ during the trial,” Sotto said.

Sen. Francis Pangilinan said the trial “could drag on for a year,” noting that there are a total of six articles of impeachment, or complaints, against Gutierrez. In the Estrada trial, he noted that the Senate spent almost three months to cover just two of the four complaints.

“With six articles, it is possible that the trial could drag on for a year, thereby affecting the entire legislative performance of the Senate,” he said.

Amendment sought

Pangilinan sought to amend the impeachment rules to allow a vote after the “presentation of evidence and arguments by the parties on one article of impeachment is completed.”

The same rules allow the removal of an impeached official if found guilty of just one article of impeachment by a two-thirds vote.

Sotto said the Senate should “ideally” complete the Gutierrez trial within “one month,” but admitted the chamber may very well be spending more time to cover all six complaints.

While Congress is in recess, the Senate secretariat and the office of Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile are busy with the physical preparations for the Gutierrez trial, which will start on May 9, according to Sotto.

He said the Senate has provided P15 million for the trial, to partly cover expenses for food, additional computers and overtime pay of employees.

Christian Esguerra, Philippine Star