Senate: 11 Votes, Not 10, Needed On Threshold

The Senate impeachment court will need 11 votes from the active roster of 20 senator-judges to overturn the ruling setting the conviction threshold at 16 votes in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, a court official clarified on Saturday, Sept. 12.

Speaking over radio dwIZ, impeachment court spokesman Reginald Tongol corrected his earlier statement that only 10 votes would be needed, an error that was carried in headlines, including in The Philippine STAR’s banner story on Saturday.

Tongol had said during a Zoom press briefing Friday, Sept. 11, that Escudero would not vote on the matter because it was his July 6 ruling that was under appeal.

The ruling set the number of votes needed to convict at 16 based on Escudero’s interpretation of the 1987 Constitution’s impeachment clause requiring “two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.”

Escudero and Senate secretary and impeachment clerk of court Renato Bantug Jr. later called Tongol to inform him that he was incorrect and that Escudero’s vote would be counted.

“We saw and monitored the headlines [on Saturday]. [On Friday], when I said that, I was only applying my understanding of the parliamentary rules, which are suppletorily applicable, that the president shall not vote on the matter unless his vote is decisive,” Tongol said.

“But I was told by our presiding officer and clerk of court that based on their study, the presiding officer would still vote on the matter. So, if 20 attend, it would need, not 10, but 11 to overturn his ruling,” he added.

With 20 active senator-judges, the court would therefore need a simple majority of 11 affirmative votes on Sept. 23 to overturn Escudero’s ruling and lower the threshold from the current interpretation of 16 votes out of 24 senators to 13 votes out of the 20 active members.

Escudero is expected to defend his position that 16 votes are needed to convict and that “all members” refers to the complete roster of 24 senators, regardless of their legal status.

“We expect his vote to be against the appeal. If he votes otherwise, then there would no longer be a ruling to appeal,” Tongol said.

The threshold issue was raised by Sen. Erwin Tulfo during the Sept. 8 trial, when he moved for the senator-judges to tackle the contentious matter.

Critics, however, questioned whether the Senate impeachment court should decide the issue, arguing that the Supreme Court should interpret what constitutes “all members of the Senate,” given the court’s unusual circumstances.

Four senators are physically absent for various reasons: Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are facing non-bailable plunder cases, Ronald dela Rosa is a fugitive from the International Criminal Court over crimes against humanity allegations and Loren Legarda is on medical leave abroad for a lung condition.

The senator-judges will hear from four amici curiae, or judiciary resource persons, on Sept. 16 to help guide their decision on the threshold issue.

They are retired chief justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno and Hilario Davide Jr. and retired associate justice Adolf Azcuna. Davide and Azcuna were framers of the 1987 Constitution.

All four “friends of the court” are expected to participate in the briefing, although Davide will submit a legal memorandum instead of attending physically. He previously presided over the aborted impeachment trial of deposed president Joseph Estrada.

Meanwhile, the impeachment trial has entered its third month since it began on July 6, with the prosecution and defense completing their presentations on two articles: Duterte’s livestreamed grave threats about contracting an assassin against President Marcos and her alleged multimillion-peso misuse of confidential funds as vice president and former education secretary.

The court is set to begin hearing the article on unexplained wealth tomorrow.

Retired Sandiganbayan presiding justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang is expected to testify as the prosecution’s expert witness.

Tongol said the prosecution has requested 12 trial dates for the article and has lined up 14 witnesses to testify on Duterte’s alleged accumulation of unexplained wealth disproportionate to her income, as well as her alleged failure to fully disclose and continued interest in businesses from 2022 to 2025.

The prosecution and defense have stipulated common pieces of evidence and agreed to fast-track the examination of witnesses as the court works toward its target verdict date at year-end.