The defense of Vice President Sara Duterte on Tuesday declined to say whether it would challenge in the Supreme Court the Senate impeachment court’s eventual ruling on the number of votes needed to convict her, saying only that it would consider whatever legal remedies may be available at the time.

Defense counsel Michael Wesley Poa said the camp was not yet prepared to take a position on whether the conviction threshold should remain at 16 votes, as the impeachment court has yet to hear arguments on the issue.

“It depends on what available remedies there are at that time,” Poa told reporters when asked if the defense would bring the matter to the Supreme Court should the Senate rule against its position.

Poa said it would be premature to discuss the defense’s position because the impeachment court has scheduled proceedings to settle the threshold question, including the participation of amici curiae on 16 September and oral arguments on 23 September.

“I'd rather we wait for that time, because that would be the appropriate time for you to know our positions on the matter,” he said.

The threshold question was revived after Sen. Erwin Tulfo asked the impeachment court to revisit its earlier determination that 16 votes were required for conviction. The Constitution provides that no person may be convicted in an impeachment trial without the concurrence of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate.

Poa said the defense already has some experts in mind whom it could recommend as amici curiae, but declined to identify them because they had not yet been formally contacted by the impeachment court.

He also said sitting Supreme Court justices would likely not be appropriate choices because the threshold dispute could eventually come before the high court.

“There’s a chance na kung anong mangyari dito, may possibility na umakyat sa Supreme Court,” Poa said.

He said retired justices and constitutional experts were among those who could be considered, but stressed that he would not speculate on who would ultimately be invited.

Poa likewise declined to preempt the defense’s position on the prosecution’s possible plan to subpoena Duterte as a witness.

He stressed that prosecutors had not formally asked the impeachment court to issue a subpoena, but had only manifested that they might seek one later.

“If it comes later on, probably that's the time that we have to address that issue and file our comment sakaling mangyari yan,” Poa said.

Lead defense counsel Sheila Sison had earlier said the defense considers any move to compel Duterte to testify unconstitutional, but Poa said he would reserve the camp’s formal arguments for the proper proceedings.

The prosecution, meanwhile, ended its presentation on the first impeachment article Tuesday after deciding not to call its remaining 15 witnesses.

Poa said the defense did not expect the move but rejected the suggestion that it meant prosecutors had exhausted their evidence. “It really boils down to strategies,” he said.###