Retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said only 21 senator-judges are currently qualified to vote in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte.

In an interview with DZBB, Carpio said senators who are detained or have not taken their oaths should not be included in determining the denominator for the two-thirds voting threshold required to convict an impeached official.

He said the denominator should be based on the number of senators qualified to vote.

“When you die or you were removed or you are suspended because you are charged before the Sandiganbayan for anti-graft or anti-plunder acts, you are automatically suspended,” Carpio said.

Carpio cited a ruling of the high court stating that an official under preventive suspension for a non-bailable offense cannot hold public office.

He said the same applies to Senators Rodante Marcoleta and Jinggoy Estrada, who are detained over plunder cases.

Marcoleta is detained over a P75-million plunder case, while Estrada faces a P573-million plunder charge.

Meanwhile, Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has not appeared in public since leaving the Senate premises on 14 May, after authorities attempted to serve him an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.

During the continuation of Duterte’s impeachment trial on Wednesday, former chief justices Reynato Puno, Hilario Davide Jr. and Artemio Panganiban, along with former Associate Justice Adolfo Azcuna, participated as amici curiae, or friends of the court.

They were asked to provide their expert opinions on the voting threshold required to convict an impeached official, which the Constitution sets at “two-thirds of all the Members of the Senate.”