SC junks petitions vs Senate impeachment court’s voting rule
MANILA, Philippines—The Supreme Court has dismissed the two petitions challenging the Senate Impeachment court’s ruling on the voting threshold required to convict Vice President Sara Duterte.
Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez and lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. filed the two separate petitions, both seeking judicial intervention after the Senate adjusted the constitutional two-thirds voting requirement.
The petition was dismissed citing procedural lapses.
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On Sept. 23, the Senate Impeachment Court members voted 13-1, sustaining an appeal filed by Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo on September 8.
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This voting reversed an earlier July 6 ruling by Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero that had fixed the conviction threshold at 16 votes based on the full 24-member Senate.
Under the newly adopted rule, the phrase “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate” specified in Article XI, Section 3(6) of the Constitution will be calculated using a reduced denominator composed only of senators deemed “legally and factually capable of participating” at the time of the vote.
The new calculation excludes members who are detained, suspended, in hiding, medically incapacitated, or beyond the Senate’s coercive processes.
The vote followed the tribunal’s rejection of a separate 13-6 motion by Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano to refer the constitutional debate directly to the Supreme Court. /apl
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