Barbers: Prosecution should seek 16 votes despite 14-vote threshold

MANILA, Philippines —  House prosecutors should still prefer to get 16 votes to convict Vice President Sara Duterte even though the Senate impeachment court had already adopted a lower threshold that will allow a verdict with 14 votes.

Former Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, House impeachment adviser and trial spokesperson, explained in a statement that getting 16 votes to convict would insulate the prosecution from another legal dispute on how the constitutional two-thirds requirement should be computed.

“If they ask me, I’ll say let’s look for 16 [votes] to prevent any challenge before the Supreme Court,” Barbers said in a statement issued on Thursday.

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READ: ‘2/3’ rule revisited: Fewer votes needed to convict Sara Duterte

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The voting minimum needed for conviction has emerged as one of the most contentious procedural issues in the impeachment trial after questions arose over whether senators unable to participate should remain part of the denominator.

The impeachment court eventually abandoned a fixed 16-vote requirement and adopted a formula based on senators legally and factually capable of participating when judgment is rendered.

Duterte’s camp has questioned the revised threshold and insisted that the Constitution requires two-thirds of all members of the 24-seat Senate.

On the other hand, the prosecution has consistently insisted that the senator-judges should decide the case on the evidence regardless of the ultimate numerical threshold.

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According to Barbers, the prosecution remains confident it can get a conviction on the second impeachment article, even if it had dropped the other three articles.

READ: From 4 to 1: Impeachment court OKs reduced raps vs Sara Duterte

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Still, Barbers acknowledged that concentrating the entire case on one article would leave prosecutors without another charge to fall back on if the senator-judges should decide to acquit Duterte.

“This is quite a big risk for the prosecution?” Barbers said.

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Duterte’s defense will first have the opportunity to rebut the evidence presented for the second impeachment article before the senator-judges deliberate and determine both the verdict and the applicable voting threshold. /atm