SENATE, Pasay City — Senate Majority Floor Leader and rules committee chair Francis 'Tol' Tolentino says that the impeachment trial of Vice President 'Inday' Sara Duterte-Carpio can be done in a marathon 19 days.
In a statement, Tolentino enthused that (he sees) nothing will prevent the 19th Congress from adopting the rules of procedure for an "expedited impeachment trial" so he is proposing a schedule in which the trial would take only 19 days, starting from June 11 or the day the Senate convenes as an impeachment court.

He disclosed that as soon as the impeachment court convenes, VP Duterte will be asked to respond in 10 days to the complaint, to which the prosecutors will reply on June 22, with the submission of the trial brief scheduled the following day.

"The opening statements of the two sides can be done in the afternoon of June 23. The prosecution can present its evidence on June 24 to 25. The defense will have its turn from June 25 to 26," Tolentino spelled out.

"If necessary, a rebuttal can be scheduled on June 27. The prosecution will present its case in the morning and the defense in the afternoon," he added, saying that "the oral arguments will be held on June 28," after which on the nextvday, the senators will hold a closed-door meeting and on June 30 will render judgment.

Debates has heated up in the past days over whether the impeachment trial would seriously disrupt Congress' legislative work.

Delays has saddled the impeachment process even as the House of Representatives transmitted the Articles of Impeachment against Duterte on February 5, but it was already, too, late for the Senate to include it in the calendar of business on the same day and then failed to tackle it before it took a three-month break for last month's midterm elections.