UPDATE: The Senate impeachment court briefs the press on Day 2 of impeachment trial — July 7, 2026

[0:00] i will read my statement for today just a short statement on what happened so first [0:08] there are administrative updates as to the bir box the bir box was transmitted by the impeachment [0:16] court clerk on july 7 2026 and was received by attorney and lorraine garcia marquez [0:24] of the office of the bir commissioner at exactly 11 07 a.m we will be attaching a photo of the [0:32] receiving copy to the briefer that we will give you later as to the house panel of prosecutors [0:39] subpoena request the request for issuance of subpoena to sastecum regarding tax documents of [0:47] respondent manscarpio and 22 businesses which responded allegedly has interest in was received [0:55] on july 6 2026 at 3 35 pm by the clerk of the impeachment court the renewed request for issuance [1:05] of subpoena to sastecum for bank records as addressed to honorable ellie remolona jr as chairman of the [1:13] anti-money laundering council was received on july 6 2026 at 3 35 pm by the clerk of the impeachment [1:21] court based on the order of the impeachment court on july 6 2026 the respondents council will be given [1:29] a copy and five days upon receipt may file comment and opposition there with afterwards oral arguments [1:36] will be scheduled senate president sherwin gachalian called the session to order and convened as [1:43] impeachment court today at 2 pm with 20 senators present as to the preliminary matters [1:52] the inquiry of the senator judge laxon on the 16 votes required to convict as a definitive ruling and [1:58] not merely a personal opinion the presiding officer confirmed and affirmed that such is a definitive [2:04] ruling subject to the legal recourse of any party regarding the matter as to the manifestation and [2:10] query of the council of prosecutor lord nakapunan to the respondents council on the plan of the [2:16] prosecution to call the respondent as a hostile witness the presiding officer reiterated that the [2:24] respondent vice president can be allowed not to appear but will deal with the matter once the [2:29] prosecution files the appropriate pleading in court and will deal with it the same way as before [2:35] giving the other party the chance to oppose or comment within five days and with oral arguments to be [2:41] scheduled the start of presentation of prosecutions evidence in chief nbi agent john mark calilong was [2:50] presented today on the defense's motion to have agent calilong's testimony be excluded for being not [2:59] part of the articles of impeachment the presiding officer denied the motion citing the case of enrile [3:05] versus andigan bayan as a supreme court held that the additional evidence is allowed as complaint is just the [3:12] summary of the charge against an accused it does not include the evidence to support the charge in [3:19] the articles of impeachment the direct examination of the witness was conducted by the council for [3:26] prosecution attorney ligutan the presiding officer allowed the showing in open court of the two minute [3:33] and 18 second video exhibits p4-10 and contained in exhibit p4-10a despite objection from the defense [3:45] on the need to show the whole two-hour video instead the presiding officer as well made several [3:52] evidentiary rulings on motions and objections of both parties several senator judges asked questions to [3:58] the prosecution and its witness of note is the question of the senator judge ontiveros on why article 4 [4:07] is tantamount to an impeachable offense to which the council for prosecutors attorney ligutan answered in the [4:12] affirmative with explanation this prompted a motion from senator judge pia kaitano to move to strike the [4:21] response of attorney ligutan the presiding officer moved to table the motion to strike out and to be [4:29] taken up at a later time and then the presiding officer ruled that the cross-examination of prosecution [4:36] witness nbi agent kalilong will be done tomorrow the trial has adjourned and will resume tomorrow wednesday [4:42] july 8 2026 at 2 p.m for the continuation of the testimony of prosecution witness nbi agent kalilong for [4:50] cross-examination by the defense that's all because the cross-examination will entail a long time [5:05] uh based uh experience natin bilang litigator then in expect natin matatagalan yun and some senators are already [5:13] tired sitting there uh so pwede naman po yun ginagawa yun so that uh mas ma-appreciate [5:21] na mga tao po pag hindi tayo pagod uh mas ma-appreciate din yung story at testimony [5:27] ng ng ng ng testigo kapag uh nakapahinga rin siya kasi tuloy-tuloy rin siya kanina kawawa rin naman [5:34] yes yes uh i think uh we want to make the trial very uh compact and expedient uh medyo long day [5:53] lagi tayo kapag may trial alam nyo naman so gusto natin as much as possible lahat ng mga uh lahat ng mga [6:00] incidents ma-resolve kagad at mabilis yung mga pagpapresenta ng mga testimony at ebidensya [6:06] hindi pa natin alam kasi sometimes the court uh will schedule a specific 92 days but because of [6:19] exigences or yung mga ganto na wala hindi naman kasalanan ng both parties hindi rin kasalanan ng [6:25] korte um just as part of court management the court will uh necessarily extend the trial dates as as need [6:35] be so hindi talaga siya 92 or 93 days na nakatali talaga [6:41] hindi na kasunod yung sanay target na one one day one witness rule uh katulad ng any uh provision [6:54] ng mga rules natin no uh ito po ay pinapasalang o pinapasunod sa atin para may orderly uh na pag uh [7:03] presenta ng mga ebidensya at ng mga testigo pero hindi naman po ito hard and strict rule while we want na [7:10] uh talagang uh talagang masunod yun pero depende po sa case to case basis exigences of the time ang [7:17] na mas nanaig pa rin po talaga e yung mas makuha yung katotohanan at uh mas magkukuha po yun kapag lahat po [7:25] ng parties ay medyo hindi napagod uh sa gantong klaseng kahabang mga testimony [7:31] uh that is uh an expected uh result of uh the delay o dun sa pagkakaroseksamin ng uh first uh witness [7:53] ng prosecution uh syempre mauurong lahat yun however the impeachment court will try its best to [8:00] figure out how to squeeze in uh the incidental oral arguments po doon sa mga trial dates na na mga [8:09] sinet po natin uh for the meantime uh of course it will just be one day kasi nakalagay sa senate uh [8:20] rules and impeachment the parties will just given uh one hour to argue their uh motion uh and one [8:28] are for the other side so medyo mahaba na po yung two hours na yun kaya uh it will take up a much time [8:36] kapag magkaroon po ng oral arguments sa lahat ng mga incidents [8:50] as the presiding officer said yesterday and was confirmed earlier uh any person can raise the matter [8:57] uh pwede po nilang exhaust yung kanilang mga legal remedies and yun po yun nakita natin but since [9:03] meron na pong kaso po sa supreme court yun we will respect the subjudicia rule at hindi na po magko comment [9:09] yung impeachment court regarding that matter and i think pagbabotohan po yun ng impeachment court as uh collegial body [9:22] yung kung katulad po ng last year no pinagbotohan po nila yung mga incidente na may concern po sa [9:30] uh sa pag-implement po ng mga orders ng ibang bodies or branches of government so uh because this is a [9:39] collegial body not a single uh person can uh can speak for the body so mas mabuti pong pagbabotohan kung [9:47] uh susundan ng uh kongreso o ng senado yung mga ganung order from another co-equal branch of government [9:55] tama po tama po dahil wala naman pong in issue na t-r-o or status quo ante order [10:05] medyo yung pinangyayari yung mga naunang uh inis sa senado na may uh may decision na [10:13] korte suprema na hindi sinunod ano po doon can you please clarify ano po yung specific na incident [10:21] na sinasabi ninyo na hindi sinunod ng senado yung order ng korte suprema kasi mahirap po magkomento [10:31] ako dito ng very general statement pong ganun uh na walang specific na detalye po so kung na alim [10:39] po lahat po may possibility na mangyari uh of course it is within the plenary powers of any co-equal [10:51] branch of government however as we have seen before po the senate uh always respects the balance of power [11:00] uh so kung yun po yung guidance natin uh makikita po natin na susundin nila yung uh co-equal [11:08] branch of government nila so long as it does not uh prevent them from exercising their own uh powers under the constitution [11:17] so pag ganyan po ayaw po natin ng constitutional crisis and sa history naman po ng uh ating mga three [11:24] branches of government wala pa naman tayong umabot doon sa ganung uh pag pag pag uh va-violate [11:31] nung co-equality nung mga branches of government po yes kasi yan po yung nakaschedule na ng prosecution [11:41] na ipresenta ngayong linggong to dalawang nbi agent po to testify on the uh videos as well to in relation [11:51] to article 4 ng articles of impeachment uh compared uh yesterday na medyo mabilis kahapon very [12:01] efficient very fast uh uh today po uh it was uh long because of the technicalities of the law uh [12:09] sana po maintindihan ng publiko natin na kasama po uh yung mga ganung mga procedure mga [12:17] formalities ang pagmamark po ng ebidensya na pag identify at authenticate at pa isa isang [12:23] pagtatanong po to establish uh the chain of custody at syaka po yung pag identify ng mga dokumento at [12:30] ebidensya kasama po yun sa araw-araw na ginagampanan ng lahat ng abogato po sa korte at lahat rin po [12:37] ng korte so nasisilip po natin bilang publiko yung inner workings of the court in process so uh medyo pagpasensyahan [12:46] lang po natin yun but it is necessary po for the uh for for to keep the rights of all the parties in [12:54] place po party po yun o po party po talaga po yun they have the right to raise objections and they [13:06] have the right to ask for a ruling on their objections po attorney can we ask for you but [13:11] i think there's precedent po during the corona trial about the tRO can you elaborate to us [13:16] ano po yung precedent about the senate possibly voting on the tRO but can you clarify what tRO was [13:22] issued during the corona the senate during the corona trial voted about about the tRO on opening [13:29] the dollar account so do we see a similar scenario uh it's hard to hazard a guess because case to case [13:35] basis po so ayoko pong pangunahan kung ano po yung magiging aksyon ng ating mga senator judges [13:41] at ng impeachment court but i think we have to just uh wait for it when the time comes we will [13:47] cross the bridge when we get there yes it is part of the senate impeachment rules and it was reiterated [14:02] by uh the uh the presiding officer in his opening statement uh yesterday [14:07] uh [14:08] hindi pwede po sa contention lang po pwede hindi [14:12] uh yung merits po bawal po itanong pa po kayo thank you po ay cross-examination po kay [14:26] kalilong and kung maikli lang po yung cross-examination uh then possible po na uh na [14:33] maipresent na rin po yung pangalawang testigo po ng prosecution uh maaari din naman po walang [14:39] cross-examination uh nangyayari naman po yun sa ordinary na experience ng mga uh [14:45] korte at mga abogado po sa litigation so kung wala rin pong cross-examination then uh the [14:50] prosecution will move to their next witness po na si uh uh nbi agent lontok possible po hindi [15:05] ko po alam hindi kung ano yun sige po salamat po see you again tomorrow bibilakan kita wala [15:17] gano'n po yun pag ano ah kasabi naman po ng ano natin ng presiding officer he will be liberal [15:25] uh liberal in the implementation of the rules uh because the other party naman can also question [15:33] it eh yes pagbibigyan lang po it's better po na ipasok na as much as possible kung may matters of [15:39] admissibility lang let the senator judge decide on the probative value of the evidence kesa po magkamali [15:46] na hindi ipasok then hindi na makoconsider yun ng mga senator judges in their deliberation uh doon [15:53] sa kanilang ultimate question kung guilty or not guilty [15:56] uh min ah minsan kasi po hindi po nagko cross-examination ang isang abogado ng kabilang [16:11] party kung wala pong na ah nagawang damaging testimony yung ah sa direct examination at walang kailangan [16:21] klaruhin o hindi binibigyan ang importansya yung testigo na yun ah po ay hindi ko po alam hindi [16:32] ko po nakita sa vantage point ko eh kung nakita ko po siya kanina nandito so i don't think [16:37] mag nag walk out po i i think ah senator judge caritano already said na pwedeng payagan tumayo o [16:45] lumabas umihe o uminom yung any party so i think ganun lang po ah hintayin natin ah siguro for ripe [17:01] yung for the matter na yun kapag ah may nag race ulit na kumari ma open na yung ano natin yung schedule [17:08] baka doon na lang nila italakayan ah kasi pag medyo tight yung schedule ng impeachment court baka [17:13] hindi mo natalakayan yun yes medyo wala namang ganong prejudice on both parties kasi technically [17:20] pinapa strike out lang on the record eh diba so and since narinig yun na rin po naman lahat ah [17:26] technicality na lang yun na pagdating doon sa deliberation sa ultimate question sa huling huli na ah [17:32] kung ano na lang po yung nakalagay doon kung tatanggalin ba yun o hindi so bahala na po yung [17:37] senator judge by that time i-announce naman po yun sa floor kung time na to already tackle it