THE constitutional requirement of a two-thirds vote to convict Vice President Sara Z. Duterte remains unchanged despite the Senate impeachment court’s decision to scrap the fixed 16-vote threshold, House lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro said Thursday.
Luistro said the court clarified not the two-thirds requirement itself but the denominator — the number of senators from which the required vote will be computed.
“However, I wish to make it clear, wala pong binago sa two-thirds. At kagaya po ng naging position ng prosecution, two-thirds is two-thirds,” Luistro said during a press briefing.
The impeachment court voted 13-1 Wednesday, with six senator-judges not participating, to overturn its earlier interpretation that conviction automatically required 16 votes based on all 24 Senate seats.
Under the new ruling, “all the Members of the Senate” refers to senators who, at the time of the vote, remain legally and factually capable of participating in the proceedings.
Senators who are detained, suspended or otherwise legally restrained; physically or medically incapacitated; being sought by authorities and of unknown whereabouts; beyond the Senate’s coercive processes; or similarly situated may be excluded from the denominator.
Any exclusion will be determined by the impeachment court at the time of the vote based on competent and sufficient evidence.
Luistro welcomed the clarification, saying it was consistent with the Senate’s constitutional authority to try and decide impeachment cases.
The ruling did not replace 16 with another permanently fixed number. The votes needed for conviction will depend on the denominator when the senator-judges eventually render their verdict.
If 20 senators, for example, are counted in the denominator, 14 votes would constitute the required two-thirds. The number could change depending on how many senators are legally and factually capable of participating at the time of the vote.
Luistro also praised the process undertaken by the impeachment court before resolving the issue.
The court sought the views of retired Chief Justices Artemio Panganiban and Reynato Puno and retired Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna as amici curiae, while retired Chief Justice Hilario Davide Jr. submitted a memorandum.
It later heard oral arguments from the prosecution and defense before senator-judges deliberated and voted on the threshold question.
Luistro said the process demonstrated the court’s exercise of due process and caution in resolving an issue that will determine how the required two-thirds vote is eventually computed.
The prosecution, she said, will continue presenting its evidence regardless of the numerical threshold that ultimately applies.
Duterte is on trial on four Articles of Impeachment approved by the House of Representatives on May 11 by a vote of 257-25, with nine abstentions.
The prosecution is currently presenting its Article II case involving allegations of unexplained wealth.
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