SC orders Senate, House to comment on impeachment voting threshold petition

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The Supreme Court has directed the Senate impeachment court and the House of Representatives to comment on a petition filed by Senators Robin Padilla and Bong Go seeking to declare null the ruling on the voting threshold for Vice President Sara Duterte’s conviction.

In a resolution dated October 14, the High Court required the Senate impeachment court---represented by Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian and court presiding officer Francis Escudero---and the House---represented by Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III and lead prosecutor Rep. Gerville Luistro---to comment on the petition within a non-extendible period of five days.

GMA News Online has reached out to the offices of the respondents and will update this story once they respond.

In a petition for certiorari and prohibition filed earlier this month, Padilla, Go, and the Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban) asked the SC to issue a status quo ante order or a temporary restraining order directing the Impeachment court and the House of Representatives to refrain from excluding any senator from the count of “all members of the Senate” under the Constitution.

The impeachment court earlier voted to base the “two-thirds of votes” on the number of senators who are capable of "legally and factually participating in the impeachment proceedings."

Under the 1987 Constitution, no person shall be convicted in an impeachment trial 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. — RSJ, GMA News