Cayosa: Senate impeachment court acted within powers

Cayosa: Senate impeachment court acted within powers | Daily Tribune

Former Integrated Bar of the Philippines president Domingo Cayosa said the Senate impeachment court did not commit grave abuse of discretion when it revised the basis for determining the two-thirds vote needed to convict or acquit Vice President Sara Duterte.

In a radio interview Sunday, Cayosa said the impeachment court acted properly by hearing opposing legal positions before deciding the constitutional issue. The Senate court held oral arguments before voting 13-1 to abandon the fixed 16-vote threshold and count only senators who are legally and factually capable of participating when judgment is rendered. Six senator-judges did not participate in the vote.

Cayosa argued that the Senate, sitting as an impeachment court, has constitutional authority to interpret and apply the rules governing impeachment proceedings and said the Supreme Court should be cautious about interfering with the Senate’s sole power to try impeachment cases.

The revised rule has already been challenged before the Supreme Court.

Former Executive Secretary Vic Rodriguez asked the high court to nullify the 23 September ruling and argued that the Constitution’s requirement of two-thirds of “all the Members of the Senate” should mean 16 votes in a 24-member chamber.

Lawyer Ernesto Francisco Jr. filed a separate petition seeking to void the ruling and restore the previous threshold, likewise arguing that the Senate impeachment court cannot redefine the constitutional phrase “all the Members of the Senate.”

The Senate impeachment court’s new rule excludes senators who are detained, suspended, legally restrained from performing their functions, physically or medically incapacitated, beyond the court’s coercive processes or similarly unable to participate.