Prosecution warns against acquittal by default if absent senators allowed to vote

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The House prosecution panel on Wednesday argued that the conviction of Vice President Sara Duterte should be based on two-thirds of all members of the Senate who are present in the proceedings, saying that including absent senators could result in acquittal by default.

Akbayan Representative Chel Diokno presented the argument of the prosecution panel.

Duterte’s defense team presented their arguments next.

Both panels were given 15 minutes each.

This stemmed from Senator-judge Erwin Tulfo’s motion for reconsideration against Presiding Officer Chiz Escudero's ruling that the base vote to convict an impeached official is all 24 senators.

The 1987 Constitution states that "no person shall be convicted without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate."

In early September, the impeachment court invited retired Supreme Court Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban, Reynato Puno, and Hilario Davide Jr. and Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna as amici curiae or friends of the court.

Panganiban, Puno, and Davide said that the voting threshold should be based on the number of senator-judges who actively participated in the impeachment trial.

However, Azcuna, one of the framers of the 1987 Constitution, offered a different view that the two-thirds concurrence requirement should relate to the entire membership of the Senate; hence, a conviction by 16 senator-judges is needed.—AOL, GMA News