Right time to question threshold rule before SC is after impeachment trial vote -Carpio

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Retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio on Thursday agreed with the Supreme Court’s (SC) dismissal of the petitions challenging the ruling of the Senate impeachment court on the voting threshold in Vice President Sara Duterte’s impeachment.

In an interview on Super Radyo DZBB, Carpio said the petitioners should wait until an actual vote has occurred.

“Well, ang tamang panahon after the voting on guilt or acquittal. Kasi kapag may 16 votes to convict, so walang issue. "Today, speculative pa na magkaroon ng 16 votes o bababa ng 16, so ayaw ng Korte Suprema to decide on something that’s speculative,” Carpio said.

(Well, the proper time is after the voting on guilt or acquittal. Because if there are 16 votes to convict, then there is no issue. Today, it is still speculative that there will be 16 votes or that it will fall below 16, so the Supreme Court does not want to decide on something that is speculative.)

“Tama ‘yun, sangayon ako doon (that’s right, I agree with that),” he added.

On Wednesday, the SC dismissed the petitions filed by former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez, Berteni Causing, and lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. on procedural grounds, including lack of standing and prematurity.

They questioned the impeachment court’s ruling to base the two-thirds of the votes required for Duterte’s conviction on the number of senators who are capable of "legally and factually participating in the impeachment proceedings."

According to Carpio, the petitioners do not have legal standing as they are not directly affected by the issue.

He said that individuals who may have legal standing are Duterte or the senators.

Further, he explained that there would be no justiciable issue if 16 senators-judges voted.

“So intayin na lang natin. Kapag may 16, walang problema. Kapag below 16, doon magkakaproblema. Doon ide-decide,” he said.

(So let’s just wait for it. If there are 16 votes, there’s no problem. If it’s below 16, there will be a problem. The SC will decide then.)

Presiding Officer Francis “Chiz” Escudero has explained that the senator-judges who are detained or suspended, who are sought by authorities whose whereabouts are unknown, who are suffering from a physical or medical incapacity, and who are beyond the coercive processes of the Senate will be excluded from the senator-judges who are qualified to vote. –NB, GMA News