SC asked to step in

The challenge to the Senate impeachment court’s decision to alter the basis for calculating the Constitution’s two-thirds voting requirement has begun to reach the Supreme Court.

Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez started the ball rolling to question the legality of the Senate impeachment court’s order revising the voting threshold for the conviction of Vice President Sara Duterte.

The High Court was petitioned to issue a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction while it hears and resolves the petition.

The petition also challenges the Senate impeachment court’s interpretation of the constitutional provision requiring a two-thirds vote of all Senate members to convict an impeached official.

On Wednesday, the Senate impeachment court voted to revise the 16-vote threshold for convicting Duterte by ruling that the required two-thirds vote of “all members of the Senate” referred only to senators who are “capable of participating” in the impeachment proceedings.

In a 13-1 vote, the senator-judges approved this interpretation, with six Duterte allies abstaining.

Rodriguez’s petition seeks SC intervention on the constitutional issue, arguing that the country’s highest court should resolve the legality of the Senate’s order.

Also, Atty. Ernesto B. Francisco Jr. said a similar petition challenging the Senate impeachment court’s order is set to be filed before the SC today at 11 a.m.

Francisco said the petition will ask the SC to interpret the constitutional provision on the voting threshold for conviction in an impeachment trial.

The petition will also seek to nullify the Senate impeachment court’s order and ask the SC to issue a status quo ante order, restoring the situation before the questioned ruling was issued.

The petitions follow the Senate impeachment court’s decision to abandon the original 16-vote requirement based on the full 24-member Senate and instead consider only the senators deemed capable of participating in the proceedings.

Constitution breached?

Vice President Duterte’s spokesperson, Atty. Salvador Paolo Panelo Jr., said the new equation violated the Constitution.

Panelo said Thursday the Constitution expressly requires the concurrence of two-thirds of all members of the Senate for an impeachment conviction, and argued that the Senate court had no authority to replace the fixed 16-vote threshold with a formula that excludes senators who cannot participate in the proceedings.

Panelo said the Senate impeachment court cannot alter what he described as an explicit constitutional requirement.

Senate President Sherwin Gatchalian said the impeachment court decided not whether the two-thirds requirement should be lowered, but which senators should form the voting base when some members cannot participate.

Panelo rejected the argument that the Senate impeachment court’s unique constitutional character shielded it from judicial scrutiny.

Will SC step in?

The question, Atty. Rico Domingo, Philippine Bar Association former president, said is whether the SC would even give such a petition due course given the constitutional independence of the impeachment court.

“If there are allegations of a violation of due process, they can elevate the matter to a higher court because they are already adversely affected by the proceedings,” Domingo said, referring to a TRO.

“But if they see that there really is grave abuse of discretion, then perhaps they would issue a TRO,” he added.

Domingo’s assessment gained significance on Thursday when Duterte’s counsel and defense spokesperson Michael Poa confirmed that an SC petition is among the legal options being considered.

Poa said the defense is weighing both going to the Supreme Court and seeking a temporary restraining order, but has yet to decide whether or when to file.

“First, we can elevate the matter. Second, if we do elevate it, we can seek a TRO. Those are the options on the table before us,” Poa said in a radio interview.

Gatchalian shot down insinuations that the turn of events hinted at Vice President Duterte’s inevitable conviction over alleged impeachable offenses.

Gatchalian’s remarks came after criticism of the Senate impeachment court over its Wednesday decision to reverse the 6 July ruling of Presiding Officer Francis Escudero, which set the conviction threshold at 16 despite the absence of several senators from the trial.

“No. That doesn’t mean the vote yesterday automatically translates into a conviction vote. That is far from the case,” Gatchalian told reporters in an interview.

Critics claimed the decision to convict the VP has been predetermined, as the impeachment court’s recent decision suggests, but Gatchalian quickly shot down the speculation, noting that the trial was still underway.

The Senate leader insisted the outcome would ultimately depend on the strength of the evidence and the witness testimony for both the defense and the prosecution.

Duterte’s lawyers have yet to present their witnesses and evidence, as it is still the prosecution’s turn.