SENATOR-Judge Mark Villar’s vote to abandon the fixed 16-vote conviction threshold does not signal how he will decide Vice President Sara Z. Duterte’s impeachment, House prosecutors said Thursday.
Villar stood out among senators identified with the minority after joining Wednesday’s 13-1 vote adopting a new formula for determining the two-thirds vote required to convict Duterte. Six other senator-judges did not participate in the voting.
House lead prosecutor Batangas Rep. Gerville “Jinky Bitrics” Luistro said Villar’s position on the threshold question was separate from his eventual judgment on the impeachment charges.
“The fact na bumoto siya towards clarifying the denominator does not mean any position on the verdict,” Luistro said during a press briefing.
Under the impeachment court’s ruling, the two-thirds requirement will no longer automatically be computed against the full 24-member Senate.
Instead, the denominator at the time of the verdict will consist of senators who remain legally and factually capable of participating in the proceedings.
House Committee on Human Rights Chairperson Manila Rep. Bienvenido “Benny” Abante Jr., meanwhile, said he was “not surprised” by Villar’s participation in the vote.
Abante said senator-judges were independently confronting the constitutional question of how the two-thirds requirement should be computed.
He contrasted Villar’s participation with the decision of other senator-judges not to take part in the vote, saying those who participated had the opportunity to hear the arguments and consider the issue before the court.
The prosecution has maintained that senator-judges should ultimately decide Duterte’s fate based on the evidence presented during the trial.
The impeachment court has yet to vote on whether to convict or acquit Duterte, with prosecutors still presenting evidence on the Articles of Impeachment.
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