Manila: Bantay Senado, the citizens' monitoring network for the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, is calling on the Senate Impeachment Court to open the June 18 pre-trial conference to the media and public. In a statement Tuesday, the group maintained that transparency in impeachment proceedings is a constitutional obligation rather than a procedural option.
According to Philippines News Agency, Bantay Senado strongly urged the impeachment court to reconsider its position after the court notified parties that the June 18 pre-trial conference 'shall not be open to the media or public,' citing the need to give the parties 'the widest freedom and latitude' in the proceedings.
'The pre-trial conference is the stage where the ground rules of the trial are established, evidence is formally marked, and witnesses are identified. These are not administrative or ministerial formalities. Bantay Senado believes that they are consequential decisions that will shape the entire character of the proceedings. The Filipino public has a right to see how those decisions are made,' said Prof. Cleve Arguelles, convenor and spokesperson of Bantay Senado.
'The impeachment trial of a sitting Vice President is not a private legal dispute between two parties. It is a constitutional process conducted in the name of the Filipino people. Every stage of that process - including the pre-trial - must be conducted transparently. The public is not an optional participant to the proceedings.'
The group said it firmly supports the position of some members of the prosecution who prefer an open, public pre-trial conference. Bantay Senado, however, noted that it takes no position on the merits of the case against Vice President Duterte, nor does it side with either the prosecution or the defense.
Bantay Senado also emphasizes the broader democratic stakes of the pre-trial decision. 'In a constitutional proceeding of this magnitude, public access is not a privilege that the court may grant or withhold at its convenience. Public access is a condition of the legitimacy of the entire impeachment trial,' Arguelles said.
Meanwhile, lawyer Michael Tiu Jr., contributing legal expert to Bantay Senado and assistant professor at the University of the Philippines College of Law, said impeachment trials and the information they present are matters of public concern. 'The public has the right to such information as matters of public concern, access to which is made more imperative by the state policy of full public disclosure. Closing it to the public and media without compelling constitutional justification may raise serious questions about the court's commitment to due process and open justice. Transparency at the pre-trial stage is not incompatible with fair proceedings,' he said.
Bantay Senado said it is raising this concern as a citizen-monitoring body whose mandate is to ensure that the entire process, from pre-trial to the verdict, is conducted openly, fairly, and in accordance with the Constitution. 'We call on the Senate Impeachment Court to immediately issue a revised notice opening the June 18 pre-trial conference to the media and the public,' it said.
Bantay Senado is a non-partisan citizens' monitoring network formed to ensure the Senate impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte is conducted with transparency, fairness, and fidelity to the Constitution. It is a flagship initiative of Team Pinas Foundation and currently counts more than 400 registered volunteers across the Philippines.
