The Senate has made all documents related to the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte publicly available through its website, allowing Filipinos to monitor the proceedings and examine the evidence themselves.
Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said an impeachment section has been added to the Senate website, containing records submitted by both the prosecution and the defense, court issuances, and the official journal of the proceedings.
According to Gatchalian, the documents are being uploaded by the Senate Secretariat, which serves as the impeachment court’s clerk.
“We will ensure that all documents and evidence are visible to the public because they have been uploaded to the Senate website,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
He encouraged the public to read and evaluate the records themselves.
“We invite the public to scrutinize, read, and understand the proceedings for themselves. We realize that while we, at the upper chamber, sit as senator-judges, the ultimate judges of this impeachment proceeding are the Filipino people,” he said.
Duterte’s impeachment trial began on July 6 and is scheduled to run three days a week over 92 trial days.
She faces four Articles of Impeachment: the alleged misuse of confidential funds from the Office of the Vice President and the Department of Education; alleged unexplained wealth and false asset declarations; alleged bribery and procurement irregularities involving DepEd; and alleged assassination threats against President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos, and former House Speaker Martin Romualdez.
