Courtesy: Senate of the Philippines
THE Senate Impeachment Court’s 13-6-1 vote on Wednesday resolved Senator-Judge Alan Peter Cayetano’s appeal on a point of order and did not yet decide how many votes would be required to convict Vice President Sara Z. Duterte, House prosecution spokesmen said.
House prosecution spokesperson Rep. Zia Alonto Adiong clarified the scope of the vote during the panel’s noontime press conference, after members of the minority explained their positions in court.
The impeachment court recorded 13 affirmative votes, six negative votes, and one abstention on Cayetano’s appeal. Presiding Officer Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero declared the appeal lost, allowing the court to proceed to the separate threshold issue raised by Senator-Judge Erwin Tulfo.
House prosecution spokesperson Ace Barbers said the panel would not predict how senator-judges would resolve that separate question.
“Mahirap pangunahan ang desisyon ng ating senator-judges dito sa usaping tatalakayin mamaya,” Barbers said.
Barbers said the positions had been studied by the senator-judges.
“We do not want to preempt them from later explaining the reason why they are voting on this issue and what vote they will decide on,” he added.
Alonto Adiong said members of the court were entitled to state their individual views. He placed the procedural exchange in the context of the July 6 pronouncement that 16 votes would be needed for conviction.
“Karapatan naman silang mag-share ng kanilang own opinion. Pero lagyan po natin ng konteksto iyong naging usapin kanina,” Alonto Adiong said.
“I think the premise of the discussion that led to voting is iyong initial na July 6, as was referred to by the defense counsel,” Alonto Adiong said.
According to the presiding officer’s explanation in court, the threshold figure had appeared in his opening statement rather than in response to a motion from a senator-judge.
Alonto Adiong said the July 6 statement was not prompted by a motion and reflected the presiding officer’s interpretation of the two-thirds requirement.
Tulfo subsequently questioned whether that initial interpretation bound the entire impeachment court. Senator-Judge Vicente Sotto III supported Tulfo’s initiative and proposed retaining the constitutional fraction of two-thirds for those able to vote.
Alonto Adiong said the court’s first vote concerned Cayetano’s preliminary procedural issue. The separate question of how to apply the constitutional two-thirds requirement remained for the senator-judges to decide.
The prosecution panel said it would await the impeachment court’s decision rather than assign a result or meaning to a threshold vote that had not yet taken place.
“Hindi pa po tayo doon sa actual threshold na voting requirement ng ating Constitution,” Alonto Adiong said.
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