Win Gatchalian: Threshold vote does not indicate Sara Duterte impeachment outcome

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The decision of senator-judges to effectively overturn the earlier ruling on the prescribed number of votes needed to convict Vice President Sara Duterte does not indicate what the outcome of the impeachment trial will be, Senate President Win Gatchalian on Thursday.

Thirteen senator-judges voted to base the two-thirds conviction vote requirement on the number of senators who participated in the impeachment proceedings.

This overturned the July 6 ruling by presiding officer Francis "Chiz" Escudero, which recognized the base number as relating to the full 24-member Senate, thus setting the conviction requirement at 16.

Gatchalian disagreed that the 13 who voted in favor of the revised base number will eventually vote to convict Duterte.

"Malayo 'yun. Depende pa rin 'yan sa presentation ng evidence. Depende pa rin 'yan kung anong sasabihin ng mga testigo. So, hindi pa 'yan 'yung boto para i-convict o hindi pa rin 'yan 'yung boto para i-acquit," Gatchalian said in an ambush interview when asked about the matter.

(Far from it. It still depends on the presentation of the evidence. It depends on what the witnesses will say. So, those are not the votes to convict, and those are not the votes to acquit.)

Gatchalian added that this decision from the court was also not binding to future impeachment trials either.

The Senate president was also asked if the latest decision made things more complicated for the impeachment court since, hypothetically, an absentee senator could also show up suddenly on the voting day without participating in the trial.

"Hindi naman siya complicated dahil ang basic doon, kung present ka, puwede kang bumoto. So that is the basic. At 'yan 'yun ang pinaka-fair. Dahil kung hindi ka magiging present, automatic, acquit ka na kaagad,” Gatchalian said.

(It is not complicated because it is basic, if you are present, you can vote. So that is the basics. And that is what is most fair. Because if you are not present, automatically, you vote acquit.)

In case an absentee senator-judge did show up however, Gatchalian said he would assume that they read the transcript or followed the trial on YouTube.

There are currently two senators who are detained over plunder charges. Senators Jinggoy Estrada and Rodante Marcoleta are imprisoned at the Quezon City Jail.

Meanwhile, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa has not been seen in public following the International Criminal Court's issuance of an arrest warrant against him. Senator Loren Legarda is on extended medical leave in France.

For example, Gatchalian said, if Dela Rosa was to show up somehow on voting day, then he could still vote.

On the other hand, even if a senator-judge attended every day of the trial, if they were absent on voting day, they would not be able to vote. — VDV, GMA News