Amici curiae Panganiban, Davide: 16 votes not the required conviction threshold

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Former Supreme Court chief justices Artemio Panganiban and Hilario Davide said Wednesday the constitutional voting threshold required to convict an impeachable official should be based on the number of senator-judges who actively participated in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Panganiban and Davide conveyed their positions during Day 26 of the Duterte impeachment trial, wherein amici curiae were heard by the Senate impeachment court to hear their expert views on what should be the voting threshold needed for the conviction of an impeachable official.

"Active participation and independent evaluation of the evidence are essential to discharge the Senate's and the Senator's constitutional responsibility," Panganiban said.

"As the elected representatives of the Filipino people, the Senate's mandate demands a commonsensical interpretation of the Constitution. Meaningful adjudication requires active participation in the search for truth and fairness. It is only in this manner that a verdict that is fair to the parties, fair to the Senators, and ultimately fair to our sovereign people," Panganiban added.

Davide, for his part, said the framers of the 1987 Constitution setting the threshold to convict on the basis of two thirds of all members of the Senate did not intend to include those physically incapacitated, charged with plunder and corruption cases, or in hiding due to legal impediments.

"We have decisions of the Supreme Court which clearly decree that public officers facing criminal cases in court cannot, during the pendency of their cases, practice their profession nor hold office, elective or appointive while in detention. Clearly then, the basis of computing the two thirds must be the number of senators who are qualified to vote, not the 24 in the present Senate," Davide said in his written position read by the Clerk of Court Renato Bantug.

"All those disqualified by reason of causes earlier mentioned should not be included," Davide added.

Four of the current 24 senator-judges of the vice president's trial are either detained for plunder cases or remain in hiding. — VDV, GMA News