No Senate gag order during Merci impeach trial

(Updated 9:47 p.m.) Senators will be allowed to grant interviews during the impeachment trial of Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez as the chamber thumbed down the gag order proposed by Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago. The Senate on Wednesday night adopted the rules that will govern it once it convenes into an impeachment court to hear the case against Gutierrez, who is accused of betrayal of public trust for her alleged inaction on several high-profile cases. Santiago has proposed that senators be barred from granting interviews to the media, taking calls, and updating their Twitter and Facebook accounts while the trial is ongoing. But in an interview, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile said they did not include the gag order in the rules of impeachment because they believe the senators are responsible individuals. “Hindi na namin sinama yun sa rules (We didn't include that in the rules), we left it to the individual members of the Senate. We consider our members responsible members," he said.
He added the senators can be interviewed but not during the proceedings and they should not discuss the merits of the case. “They can grant interviews after, not during the proceedings. We are not going to prevent them from being interviewed by the press. But we cautioned them not to discuss the merits of the case while being interviewed," Enrile said. If a senator discusses the case with reporters, Enrile said, “We will have to talk to him and follow the agreement and the internal rules of the House." Silence please Since the proceedings will be open to the public, the audience will be cautioned against disrupting the proceedings by taking phone calls or doing anything that will disrupt the silence needed to hear the testimony and the arguments of the lawyers. Enrile did not say the penalty that will be imposed to those who will disrupt the proceedings. Enrile said the Senate will tackle first all the six articles of impeachment before the final voting for each article “If we vote on Article 1, then there’s no conviction, we will go to the second one, there’s still no conviction, everybody will think that we are going to finish it without any conviction or either way you vote on the first article, then you convict that’s the end of it," he said. “We have to finish the whole thing. To see all the evidence of the prosecutors and the defense before we make a judgment," the Senate leader added. In a separate interview, Sen. Joker Arroyo believed the rules adopted by the Senate are fair. “Pantay pantay yung rules kay (former President Joseph) Estrada at Gutierrez, it’s fair," he said. The Senate will also send a notice to the House of Representatives that it will convene and shall be ready to receive the prosecutors on May 9, 2011 at 2 p.m. The chamber will take up its legislative works in the mornings (9 a.m. to 12 noon) of Mondays, Tuesday, and Thursdays; while impeachment hearings will be held in the afternoon of the same days (2 p.m. onwards). During Wednesdays, the morning is reserved for sessions of the Commission on Appointments (CA), while the impeachment trial will be held from 3 p.m. onwards. The chamber, convened as an impeachment court, will give Gutierrez a non extendible period of 10 days to answer the articles of impeachment. The prosecutors will be given five days to reply on the answer. - KBK, GMA News