RULES OF PROCEDURE ON IMPEACHMENT TRIALS IN THE SENATE OF THE PHILIPPINES
I. When the Senate receives articles of impeachment against any person, the Senate President shall inform the House of Representatives that the Senate shall take proper order on the subject of impeachment and shall be ready to receive the prosecutors on such time and date as the Senate may specify. II. Upon such articles being presented to the Senate, the Senate shall, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of the day (except Saturday and Sunday) following such presentation, or sooner if ordered by the Senate, proceed to the consideration of such articles. It shall continue in session from day to day (except Saturday and Sunday) after the trial shall commence (unless otherwise ordered by the Senate) until final judgment shall be rendered, and so much longer as may, in its judgment, be needful. Before proceeding to the consideration of the articles of impeachment, the Presiding Officer shall administer the oath hereinafter provided to the Members of the Senate then present and to the other Members of the Senate as they shall appear, whose duty it shall be to take the same. III. When the President of the Philippines shall be impeached, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court shall preside, otherwise the Senate President shall preside in all other cases of impeachment. In a case requiring the said Chief Justice to preside, notice shall be given to him by the Senate President of the time and place fixed for the consideration of the articles of impeachment, as aforesaid, with a request to attend; and the said Chief Justice shall be administered and oath by the Senate President and shall preside over the Senate during the consideration of said articles and upon the trial of the person impeached therein. IV. The Presiding Officer shall have the power to make and issue, by himself or by the Secretary of the Senate, all orders, mandates, and writs authorized by these rules or by the Senate, and to make and enforce such other regulations and orders in the premises as the Senate may authorize or provide. V. The Senate shall have power to compel the attendance of witnesses, to enforce obedience to its orders, mandates, writs, and judgments, to preserve order, and to punish in a summary way contempts of, and disobedience to, its authority, orders, mandates, writs, or judgments, and to make all lawful orders, rules, and regulations which it may deem essential or conducive to the ends of justice. And the Sergeant at Arms, under the direction of the Senate, may employ such aid and assistance as may be necessary to enforce, execute, and carry into effect the lawful orders, mandates, and writs of the Senate. VI. The Senate President shall direct all necessary preparations in the Senate Chamber, and the Presiding Officer on the trial shall direct all the forms of proceedings while the Senate is sitting for the purpose of trying an impeachment. The presiding officer _____________________ shall direct all forms during the trial not otherwise specially provided for under these rules. The President of the Senate or the Chief Justice when presiding on the trial may rule on all questions of evidence including, but not limited to, questions of materiality, relevancy, competency or admissibility of evidence and incidental questions, which ruling shall stand as the judgment of the Senate, unless a Member of the Senate shall ask that a formal vote be taken thereon, in which case it shall be submitted to the Senate for decision after one contrary view is expressed; or the Presiding Officer may at his/her option, in the first instance, submit any such question to a vote of the Members of the Senate. The motion for a vote and the contrary opinion shall not take more than two (2) minutes each, with a one minute rebuttal allowed for the proponent of the motion. Upon all such questions the vote shall be taken in accordance with the Standing Rules of the Senate. The Rules of Court shall apply insofar as they are applicable. Rules of evidence and procedures shall be liberally construed. VII. Upon the presentation of articles of impeachment and the organization of the Senate as hereinbefore provided, a writ of summons shall issue to the person impeached, reciting or incorporating said articles, and notifying him to appear before the Senate upon a day and at a place to be fixed by the Senate and named in such writ, and file his answer to said articles of impeachment. Within an unattendable period of ten days from receipt thereof, and to stand to and abide by the orders and judgments of the Senate thereon; which writ shall be served by such officer or person as shall be named in the order thereof, such number of days prior to the day fixed for such appearance as shall be named in such order either by the delivery of an attested copy thereof to the person impeached, or if that cannot conveniently be done, by leaving such copy at the last known place of abode of such person, or at his usual place of business in some conspicuous place therein; or if such service shall be, in the judgment of the Senate, impracticable, notice to the person impeached to appear shall be given in such other manner, by publication or otherwise, as shall be deemed just; and if the writ aforesaid shall fail of service in the manner aforesaid, the proceedings shall not thereby abate, but further service may be made in such manner as the Senate shall direct. If the person impeached, after service, shall fail to appear, either in person or by attorney, on the day so fixed thereof as aforesaid, or, appearing, shall fail to file his answer to such articles of impeachment, the trial shall proceed, nevertheless, as upon a plea of not guilty. If a plea of guilty shall be entered, judgment may be entered thereon without further proceedings. VIII. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the day appointed for the return of the summons against the person impeached, the legislative business of the Senate shall be suspended, and the Secretary of the Senate shall administer an oath to the returning officer in the form following: "I, __________________, do solemnly swear that the return made by me upon the process issued on the ____ day of ______________, by the Senate of the Philippines, against __________________ is truly made, and that I have performed such service as therein described: So help me God." Which oath shall be entered at large on the records. IX. The person impeached shall then be called to appear and answer the articles of impeachment against him. If he appears, or any person for him, the appearance shall be recorded, stating particularly if by himself, or by agent or attorney, naming the person appearing and the capacity in which he appears. If he does not appear, either personally or by agent or attorney, the same shall be recorded. X. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, or at such other hour as the Senate may order, of the day appointed for the trial of an impeachment, the legislative business of the Senate shall be suspended, and the Secretary shall give notice to the House of Representatives that the Senate is ready to proceed upon the impeachment of _______________, in the Senate Chamber. XI. The hour of the day at which the Senate shall sit upon the trial of an impeachment shall be (unless otherwise ordered) 2 o'clock in the afternoon; and when the hour shall arrive, the Presiding Officer upon such trial shall cause proclamation to be made, and the business of the trial shall proceed. The adjournment of the Senate sitting in said trial shall not operate as an adjournment of the Senate as a legislative body and on such adjournment the Senate shall resume the consideration of its legislative business. XII. The Secretary of the Senate shall record the proceedings in cases of impeachment as in the case of legislative proceedings, and the same shall be reported in the same manner as the legislative proceedings of the Senate. XIII. Counsel for the parties shall be admitted to appear and be heard upon an impeachment: Provided, That counsel for the prosecutors shall be under the control and supervision of the panel of prosecutors of the House of Representatives. XIV. All motions, objections, requests, or applications whether relating to the procedure of the Senate or relating immediately to the trial (including questions with respect to admission of evidence or other questions arising during the trial) made by the parties or their counsel shall be addressed to the Presiding Officer only, and if he, or any Senator, shall require it, they shall be committed to writing, and read at the Secretary's table. XV. Witnesses shall be examined by one person on behalf of the party producing them, and then cross-examined by one person on the other side. XVI. If a Senator is called as a witness, he shall be sworn, and give his testimony standing in his place. XVII. If a Senator wishes to put a question to a witness, he/she shall do so within two minutes. A senator may likewise put a question to a prosecutor or to counsel of the prosecutor or the person impeached. He/she may also offer a motion of order, in writing which shall be submitted to the Presiding Officer. The parties or their counsel may interpose objections to witnesses answering questions propounded by any Senator and the merits of any such objection may be argued by the parties or their counsel. Ruling on any such objection shall be made as provided in Rule VI. XVIII. At all times while the Senate is sitting upon the trial of an impeachment the doors of the Senate shall be open to the public. XIX. All preliminary or interlocutory questions, and all motions, shall be argued for not exceeding one hour (unless the Senate otherwise orders) on each side. XX. The case, on each side, shall be opened by one person. The final argument on the merits may be made by two persons on each side (unless otherwise ordered by the Senate upon application for that purpose), and the argument shall be opened and closed on the part of the House of Representatives. XXI. An article of impeachment shall not be divisible for the purpose of voting thereon at any time during the trial. Once voting has commenced on an article of impeachment, it shall continue until completed on all articles of impeachment, unless the Senate adjourns for a period not to exceed one day or adjourns sine die. On the final question whether the impeachment is sustained, the yeas and nays shall be taken on each article of impeachment separately; and if the impeachment shall not, upon any of the articles presented, be sustained by the votes of two-thirds of all the Members, a judgment of acquittal shall be entered; but if the person impeached shall be convicted upon any such article by the votes of two-thirds of all the Members, the Senate may proceed to the consideration of such other matters as may be determined to be appropriate prior to pronouncing judgment. A motion to reconsider the vote by which any article of impeachment is sustained or rejected shall not be in order. Form of putting the question on each article of impeachment The Presiding Officer shall first state the question; thereafter each Senator, as his/her name is called, shall rise in his/her place and answer: guilty or not guilty. If he/she so wishes, a Senator may explain his/her vote for not more than two (2) minutes. XXII. All the orders and decisions may be acted upon without objection, or, if objection is heard, the orders and decisions shall be voted on without debate by yeas and nays, which shall be entered on the record, subject, however, to the operation of Rule VI, except when the doors shall be closed for deliberation, and in that case no Member shall speak more than once on one question, and for not more than ten minutes on an interlocutory question, and for not more than fifteen minutes on the final question, unless by consent of the Senate, to be had without debate; but a motion to adjourn may be decided without the yeas and nays, unless they be demanded by one-fifth of the Members present. The fifteen minutes herein allowed shall be for the whole deliberation on the final question, and not on the final question on each article of impeachment. XXIII. Witnesses shall be sworn in the following form: "You _______________, do swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that the evidence you shall give in the case now pending between the Philippines and __________________, shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth: so help you God." Which oath shall be administered by the Secretary, or any other duly authorized person. Form of a subpoena to be issued on the application of the prosecutors of the impeachment, or of the party impeached, or of his counsel To __________________, greetings: You are hereby commanded to appear before the Senate of the Philippines, on the _______ day of ____________, at the Senate Chamber in the City of Pasay, then and there to testify your knowledge in the case which is before the Senate in which the House of Representatives has impeached _____________, and to bring with you the following ___________, it being necessary to use the same as testimony. Fail not. Witness ______________, and Presiding Officer of the Senate, at the City of Pasay, this _______ day of _____________, in the year of our Lord. ______________________________, Presiding Officer of the Senate Form of direction for the service of said subpoena The Senate of the Philippines to ____________, greeting: You are hereby commanded to serve and return the within subpoena according to law. Dated at Pasay, this ____ day of ________, in the year of our Lord ____. _______________________, Secretary of the Senate Form of oath to be administered to the Members of the Senate and the Presiding Officer sitting in the trial of impeachments "I solemnly swear (or affirm, as the case may be) that in all things appertaining to the trial of the impeachment of ______ ______, now pending, I will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws: So help me God." Form of summons to be issued and served upon the person impeached REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) SS. The Senate of the Philippines to _______________, greetings: Whereas the House of Representatives of the Philippines did, on the ____ day of ________, present to the Senate articles of impeachment against you, the said ______ ______, in the words following: [Here insert the articles] And demand that you, the said _______________, should be put to answer the accusations as set forth in said articles, and that such proceedings, examinations, trials, and judgments might be thereupon had as are agreeable to law and justice. You, the said ____________, are therefore hereby summoned to be and appear before the Senate of the Philippines, at their Chamber in the City of Pasay, on the ____ day of __________________, at ____ o'clock ____, then and there to answer to the said articles of impeachment, and then and there to abide by, obey, and perform such orders, directions, and judgments as the Senate of the Philippines shall make in the premises according to the Constitution and laws of the Philippines. Hereof you are not to fail. Witness ___________________, and Presiding Officer of the said Senate, at the City of Pasay, Philippines, this ____ day of ________, in the year of Our Lord _______. ______________________________, Presiding Officer of the Senate Form of Order to be indorsed on said writ of summons REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES ) SS. The Senate of the Philippines to ________________________, greetings: You are hereby commanded to deliver to and leave with __________ __________, if conveniently to be found, or if not, to leave at his usual place of abode, or at his usual place of business in some conspicuous place, a true and attested copy of the within writ of summons, together with a like copy of this order, and in whichsoever way you perform the service, let it be done at least ____ days before the appearance day mentioned in the said writ of summons. Fail not, and make return of this writ of summons and order, with your proceedings thereon endorsed, on or before the appearance day mentioned in the said writ of summons. Witness ______________________, and Presiding Officer of the Senate, at the City of Pasay, this ____ day of ____ in the year of Our Lord. ______________________________, Presiding Officer of the Senate All process shall be served by the Sergeant-at-Arms of the Senate, unless otherwise ordered by the Senate. XXIV. If the Senate shall, at any time, fail to sit for the consideration of articles of impeachment on the day or hour fixed therefor, the Senate may, by an order to be adopted without debate, fix a day and hour for resuming such consideration.