Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday said the Senate is moving past weeks of political turbulence and returning to its core work of legislation, oversight and constitutional duty as the chamber prepares for both priority bills and the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.<\/p>\n
\u201cTapos na ang Senateflix. Back to work na tayo (Senateflix is over. We are back to work),\u201d Gatchalian told reporters while the Senate is holding the pretrial conference for Duterte\u2019s impeachment case.<\/p>\n
Gatchalian said the Senate will use the coming weeks to lay down priority measures identified by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC), while also completing logistical, security and procedural preparations for the impeachment trial set to begin on July 6.<\/p>\n
He said senators have been asked to proceed with committee hearings during the legislative break following the election of committee chairpersons, vice chairpersons and members.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo in the next few weeks, we will focus also on the bills. We will request the senators to already proceed with their hearings,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gatchalian said the goal is to ensure that once sessions resume, the Senate can immediately take up LEDAC measures and other priority bills of individual senators.<\/p>\n
He noted that the Senate has only two years left in the current Congress, while the usual legislative cycle for a bill could take about one and a half to two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cKaya yesterday, pag may bills, talagang I talked to the chairman, I talked to the people who will debate para makita natin kung ano ‘yung pwede nating solution and matapos ‘yung bill (That is why yesterday, whenever there were bills, I really talked to the chairman and those who would debate so we could see possible solutions and finish the bill),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At the same time, Gatchalian said preparations for the impeachment proceedings are already underway, particularly on security and logistics.<\/p>\n
He said the Senate has met with the Philippine National Police, Armed Forces of the Philippines, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Pasay City government, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, Bureau of Fire Protection and other enforcement agencies.<\/p>\n
The Senate chief said impeachment trial will require tight coordination because the personalities involved are political figures and the Senate building has limited space.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest challenge is the logistics portion. Kasi maliit ang Senado eh. Ang pinaka-problema natin dito, space (The Senate is small. Our biggest problem here is space),\u201d Gatchalian said.<\/p>\n
He said both the prosecution and defense panels are expected to require their own rooms for huddles, media, staff, witnesses and documents, while senators and the public must also be accommodated in an open constitutional proceeding.<\/p>\n
Gatchalian said the Senate would hold weekly security briefings with law enforcement agencies to assess preparations for the trial.<\/p>\n
He said the chamber\u2019s immediate task is to restore normal programming while carrying out its constitutional responsibility as an impeachment court.<\/p>\n
\u201cMagiging dalawa ‘yung trabaho namin, impeachment and legislation (Our work will have two tracks: impeachment and legislation),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Gatchalian said the Senate may not always agree on bills and resolutions, but debates must return to the floor and committees.<\/p>\n
\u201cHindi man kami mag-agree on certain bills and resolutions, but at least napag-debatehan natin at napag-usapan natin (Even if we do not agree on certain bills and resolutions, at least we are able to debate and discuss them),\u201d he said. (PNA) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Senate is returning its attention to legislation, oversight, and constitutional duties after weeks of political turbulence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258069,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-258068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-latest-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t